Hogwarts High School and Continued Education Program
by alittleinsane963
Summary: Young Sharon Raydor accepts the chance for a better life for her family by way of an internship with the California department of MaCUSA and a position as a teaching assistant at Hogwarts High School. Life certainly becomes an adventure when Muggle and magical worlds collide. *Will be moved back to crossover, where it belongs, shortly.*
1. Chapter 1

In attempts to create better, more well-trained employees for several departments, the MaCUSA office of California developed a new program with Hogwarts High School. The school and congress worked closely together on the creation and execution of the Continued Education Program. Students graduating from Hogwarts High looking to pursue careers related to upholding the law, Muggle relations, and several other fields would apply for summer internships in their desired department. Those granted internships would work themselves to exhaustion over the summer, proving themselves and their dedication. From those that interned, the elite would go through further vetting processes and a select few would be granted teaching assistant positions at Hogwarts, where they would teach underclassmen while pursuing their own further studies, often continuing their intern work on nights and weekends. The process was grueling, but those that made it through were highly qualified and ascended ranks faster than those that went through traditional channels. The Continued Education Program was incredibly successful, and other specialized fields, such as health care, created their own tracks to integrate into the Program.

Johnson, Provenza, Flynn, Sanchez, and Tao had all interned with the Auror department over the summer and worked as teaching assistants at Hogwarts High for two years each. Johnson studied interrogation extensively. Provenza had chosen an emphasis, to everyone's surprise, in interdepartmental communications. He had originally planned on taking the traditional route to being employed by the Aurors, but when a TA position opened, he took it so he could advance faster. Flynn studied a bit of everything and had become a jack-of-all-trades, not necessarily excelling at anything, but his wide variety of experiences made him incredibly valuable. Like Provenza, he had come to the Continued Education Program late. Sanchez specialized in gangs. Tao had chosen an emphasis in forensics. The five had been thrown together as a team during their most recent summer internship. Having already been friends through their jobs as T.A.s at Hogwarts, the team worked together incredibly well and wild rumors spread about the positions they might be offered upon completing their education.

Halfway through the summer, however, Johnson stepped over the line in an interview. She, her supervisor, and her team were investigated by Internal Affairs, and a deal was finally struck in which Johnson agreed to resign from her internship and her position as a T.A. two weeks before school began. She managed to save her reputation and was able to get into another school. She and her fiancée moved, and  
Provenza, Flynn, Sanchez, and Tao finished their jobs while down a teammate.

It came as an incredible shock to the four remaining teammates when, at the Welcoming Feast for the new school year, they spotted a familiar, infuriating face among the crowd of freshmen waiting to be Sorted.

"What the hell's this?" asked Flynn. "She was part of the investigation into Johnson! What's she doing here?"

"Damned if I know," said Provenza, glaring openly at the woman. "What was her name?"

"Raydor," said Tao.

"You forgot her title, Tao," said Sanchez. "Darth. Darth Raydor."

Tao sighed and decided against replying to his partner's sour tone. "Maybe she's looking into a new career. Internal Affairs is tough, and I think she's been there close to a year."

"Talking about Raydor?" said a blonde girl, dropping into a seat next to Tao. Hobbs, a high-achieving law student, had worked with the team on several different occasions throughout her time in the Continued Education Program. Despite her chosen profession, she managed to get along fairly well with the future Aurors. "She's looking into a career, alright, but not a new one."

"But she works with I.A.," Flynn objected. "She was one of the ones prying into us and tearing Johnson apart this summer."

"Intern," said Hobbs. "She was in line to get a full time job the old way, doing all her training on site, but then she got a new offer."

While Provenza and Flynn exchanged incredulous facial expressions, Sanchez continued trying to extract information out of Hobbs. "Are you saying she's – "

"A new T.A.?" asked Hobbs. "Yes. You guys had better get used to her real quick. Her internship was just transferred to the Auror department a few days ago."

" _What?_ " Flynn snapped.

Hobbs nodded. "You all were so preoccupied with trying to dig Johnson out of her own grave that you failed to keep up with office gossip. Raydor was the first person admitted as an intern for Internal Affairs and she impressed a lot of people while there. She's a smart cookie."

"Who the hell _wants_ to intern for Internal Affairs?" Provenza queried.

"Pretty smart, actually, when you think of it," said Tao. "She's been learning to investigate people that know how to get away with crimes. Imagine how she might do when looking into the average citizen."

"She spent her summer trying to undermine Johnson!" Flynn objected.

"Johnson was out of line, Flynn," said Hobbs. "Everyone except you guys is on the same page as far as that goes. Honestly, she did you a favor when she left. Sharon didn't do anything except her job. It's time you get over it."

"So you're on first name terms?" asked Sanchez lowly.

"Yes," said Hobbs with a slight roll of her eyes. "Sharon and I worked together a few times over the summer. We got along just fine."

The group was stopped from arguing further as Professor McGonagall announced the beginning of the Sorting Ceremony.

Each of the T.A.s reacted appropriately when a freshman was assigned to their House. Flynn pounded the table appreciatively for every new Gryffindor. Provenza hooted and hollered with the rest of Slytherin. Sanchez stood and clapped until each new Hufflepuff took their seat. Tao and Hobbs applauded politely and looked their new Ravenclaws over keenly, taking in every bit of information they could.

When "Raydor, Sharon!" was called forward, the team of Auror interns all held their breath, wondering who was going to get stuck with the person they had come to dislike and distrust so much.

"What's going on?" asked Sanchez after nearly two minutes of staring at Raydor with the oversized Sorting Hat obscuring her eyes.

Flynn shrugged. "Maybe the Hat's on our side and refusing to Sort her."

Another minute passed and Tao started to become more and more excited.

"What's with you, Tao?" Provenza asked irritably after his teammate had glanced at his watch for the dozenth time.

"It's been three and a half minutes," Tao whispered excitedly. "She might end up being a Hatstall!"

"Hatstall?" asked Sanchez.

"Someone that takes five minutes or more to be Sorted," Hobbs answered, chewing the inside of her cheek slightly. "They're rare. I don't think we've had one in at least thirty years."

"The average Sorting takes forty-eight seconds," said Tao. "She's been there for – "

"More than that, yeah, we get it," said Provenza.

After even more time passed, in which Raydor's cheeks had become progressively more and more red, the Hat declared her to be a Hufflepuff. Sanchez stood and clapped with the rest of his House, though he had a slightly crestfallen look on his face.

"She's your problem now, Julio," said Flynn smugly, slapping Sanchez on the shoulder.

Instead of joining the rest of the T.A.s, Raydor sat with several Senior Hufflepuffs that beckoned her over.

Tao whistled lowly. "Six minutes and twenty-two seconds," he breathed. "That's a long time."

Conversation ceased as Sorting continued. When food finally appeared on the tables, the T.A.s dug in with fervor.

"You know," Tao started, "to have taken that long to be Sorted, Raydor's got to be incredibly complex."

"Don't tell me you're on the verge of forgiving her, Tao," Provenza growled.

"Hey, how about you leave my housemate alone?" Sanchez forcefully suggested.

"So she's sorted into Hufflepuff and suddenly deemed untouchable?" Provenza asked irritably.

"In Hufflepuff, we look after our own," said Sanchez. "I'm not saying I'm happy with what she's done, but I'm not going to start tearing my House apart."

Hobbs tactfully changed the subject and the rest of the meal passed pleasantly.

"Flynn, Provenza, Sanchez, Tao," said McGonagall's crisp voice as the Hall began to clear.

"Professor," said Flynn with a polite nod. "Have a good summer?"

"Considering you were chiefly someone else's responsibility, Mr. Flynn, yes," said McGonagall.

"Harsh, but fair," Flynn admitted, earning the shadow of a smile from his Head of House.

"Mr. Moody would like to see the lot of you," said McGonagall. "Follow me."

"Catch you later, Hobbs," said Tao with a wave as he followed his team out.

"Mr. Moody," said Provenza smoothly upon entering McGonagall's office. "What can we do for you?"

Moody's magical eye twirled madly about while his normal one narrowed. "Quit your yapping, Provenza. You'll be getting nothing from me."

"Did I ask for anything?" Provenza asked, sounding almost innocent.

"You've always got an angle," said Moody. His protégées plugged their ears as he filled his lungs. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"Alastor, we've talked about you shouting in my office!" McGonagall said exasperatedly. "You four sit. We're waiting on Professor Sprout."

The four interns sat down, each beginning to ponder what on earth might have called their team supervisor to Hogwarts on the school's first night. Perhaps they were being given a new assignment on which to work during their limited down time.

Professor Sprout entered with none other than Sharon Raydor behind her. "Ah, gentlemen!" she said kindly while gesturing for Raydor to sit. "I'd like for you to meet – "

"We've met," said Flynn shortly, narrowing his eyes at Raydor, who looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"I just want to say that I was only – " Raydor began.

"I haven't got much time, so I need the lot of you to shut it," said Moody shortly.

"Yes, sir," responded the four young men immediately. Raydor showed signs of surprise behind her large glasses.

"With Johnson gone, my intern team could use another member," said Moody. "Raydor's it."

"Sir!" Flynn immediately objected. "We're two years in and she's only just – "

"Did I make that sound like a question, Flynn?" Moody asked dangerously.

"No, sir," said Flynn tightly.

Moody nodded curtly. "While we try to get Raydor caught up and the five of you figure out your new team dynamics, I've requested you not be assigned anything for at least a month. On Saturdays, you'll report to me down by the black lake for training at 7:00am, sharp."

"Um, sir, Mr. Moody," said Raydor somewhat shyly while her new teammates hung their heads. "Is it possible to change that time at all? You see, I'll be commuting and – "

"Raydor, _you_ are the one that requested this job," said Moody. " _You_ are the one that requested to be on a team, and I took you. Are you telling me that you would like to resign?"

"No, sir," said Raydor with a touch of resentment.

"7:00, this Saturday," said Moody. "If you're late, that tells me you need training more than once a week. Do I make myself clear?"

At hearing the resounding chorus of "Yes, sir!" Moody nodded, then left without another word.

"Professor Sprout and I decided during the Feast that it would be in your best interest to take some time tonight to get to know each other a little better before classes officially start," said McGonagall.

"Madame Rosemerta has a table set aside for you," said Sprout. "Your supervisory duties for the night have been seen to, so there's no need to rush back."

The men stood and left without a word, and Raydor hurried to catch up.

"I get that you're angry at me," said Raydor after a stretch of uncomfortable silence on the way to Hogsmeade. "I hope you can come to understand that I was just doing my job when it came to investigating Brenda Johnson."

"Sure, your job," said Flynn in a would-be casual tone.

"Have to admit it worked out really well for you, though," said Provenza. "You investigate Johnson, she leaves with hardly any dignity, and you swoop in to take her position."

"My goal was _not_ to take your teammate's job," Raydor insisted. "I won't deny that it ended up being convenient for me, but I had no thoughts of transferring departments until after the investigation was over."

"Let's not argue about the past," suggested Tao loudly. "None of us had the final say on anything, and all of us were just acting as ordered.

"Sharon, I'd like to know what Houses the Sorting Hat considered you for," said Tao before any of his teammates could say anything more.

Raydor smiled appreciatively at Tao. "Hufflepuff was a consistent option," she said, "but the Hat considered every house for a bit. It seemed like that took _forever_!"

While Tao gushed on about Hatstalls, Flynn and Provenza rolled their eyes and exchanged a multitude of skeptical looks.

The group finally made it to _The Three Broomsticks_ and was shooed over to a table in the corner of the bar.

"So did all of you go to Hogwarts for high school?" Raydor asked. She seemed to have relaxed significantly since leaving McGonagall's office. "I only moved here a year ago, so I'm still figuring out how influential the school really is."

"Yeah, we did," said Sanchez. "Tao and I did pretty well. We still haven't figured out how Flynn and Provenza slipped through the cracks and made it into the T.A. program."

"Don't quit your day job, Sanchez," suggested Provenza. "You're not that great of a comedian."

As the evening wore on, Provenza seemed to relax a bit more and even laughed at a joke or two of Raydor's. His easy-going façade was betrayed, however, by suspicious glances at Raydor whenever she was not paying attention. Flynn made no effort to hide his unhappiness.

"Hey, Tao, you got a ring for Cathy yet?" Sanchez asked after observing an attractive woman in the bar. "I won't be around forever to be your best man, you know."

"Cathy's still in Japan until February, and I'm not rushing into anything just because you want to make an embarrassing speech about me, Julio," said Tao. "Also, I refuse to turn into Provenza."

"Hey, now," said Provenza defensively, "I have only had three fiancées. I hardly think – "

"You've been engaged _three_ times?" Raydor asked, aghast.

"Listen," Provenza began, ready to explain himself.

"Three fiancées, four engagements," said Tao. "None of them ended well."

"Provenza's kind of like the chicken-and-egg problem," said Sanchez with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "We're not sure if the relationships failed because he's a cynical grouch or if he's a cynical grouch because the relationships failed."

Raydor quickly grabbed her cup and hid her face behind it as Provenza started verbally ripping into Sanchez.

"I see you've got a rock on your finger," said Tao loudly after smacking his partner in the shoulder. "Engaged?"

"Married, actually," said Raydor, her smile suddenly looking fixed. "Separated now, but – "

"There's a surprise," Flynn muttered sarcastically, none too quietly.

"Hey," Sanchez said harshly.

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Flynn?" Raydor asked coolly.

"Nothing," said Flynn unconvincingly.

Raydor simply sat and blinked at Flynn for a moment, as if the gears in her head had jammed. "Julio, would you mind letting me out, please?" she asked finally.

Sanchez scooted out of the booth seat to allow Raydor out, who quickly slung her bag over her shoulder. She forced a smile, wished her teammates a goodnight, and left with her hair hiding her face.

"You're an ass," said Sanchez to Flynn.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

An idea came into my head and it wouldn't leave. I've been writing this story in bursts since the summer, and am eager to find out what someone other than myself thinks of it. Let me know, and feel free to share any ideas with me!


	2. Chapter 2

The first week of class was uncomfortable, to say the least, for the Auror T.A.s. No one mentioned the excursion to _The Three Broomsticks_ , though it was clear that Raydor had not forgotten Flynn's unkind remark, nor had Flynn sorted through any of his animosity. Provenza kept his distance from Raydor, preferring to study her from afar as much as possible. Tao tried to act as if nothing strange were happening, desperately hoping things would work themselves out with time. Sanchez supported his Housemate, helping her find various classrooms and filling her in on certain traditions, but he kept close to his old teammates, also.

In the first few days of class, Flynn and Provenza were not shy about their doubts that Raydor could keep up with the workload. However, she quickly put to rest any doubts in her abilities. In Charms, the team's very first class of the semester, Flitwick had sprung a practical exam. He had coated the desks in an unidentified, skin irritating compound and allowed the students access any books or notes in his classroom to find the solution, promising to release each student upon their success. Raydor had been cleared to leave inside of ten minutes. After a few more similar incidents occurred, Flynn and Provenza quieted. It soon became common knowledge that a person did not want to find themselves facing Sharon Raydor's wand.

"Gentlemen," Raydor greeted on Saturday morning. Her purse hung on her arm and she sipped generously from a travel mug. Her attire was no different than that which she might wear for a day of teaching: blouse, blazer, slacks, and heels.

"I'd set the mug and purse aside, if I were you," said Tao. "Did you bring a change of clothes?"

"Why?" Raydor asked slowly.

"There's a reason Moody's got the nickname Mad-Eye," said Sanchez.

"I assumed that was because of his magical implant," Raydor reasoned.

"That only accounts for approximately 25% of the reason for the name," said Tao.

"6:58. Brace yourselves!" Flynn announced after checking his watch.

"Raydor, get your wand out and toss the bag, now!" Provenza barked.

Raydor set her purse aside by a few feet, then turned back to her team. "Would someone be so kind as to – "

"Brooms! Hit the deck!" Tao shouted, just as bells started to chime the hour.

Raydor suddenly found herself on the ground with the wind knocked out of her.

"Welcome to training, Raydor," said Flynn, rolling away from tackling Raydor and popping onto his feet. He hastily helped her up and pulled her behind a large boulder.

"This is _not_ what I had in mind," Raydor wheezed. She straightened her glasses with a sour expression and kept her wand at the ready and eyes on the sky.

"Team check!" called Provenza.

"Tao!"

"Sanchez!"

"Flynn!"

Flynn elbowed his teammate. Raydor inhaled to call her name, but started coughing heartily instead.

"Flynn's got Raydor!" Flynn called.

While Raydor still felt angry at Flynn, she had to give credit where credit was due. He was certainly proving himself capable of putting aside personal differences to get a job done.

"Tao, how many?" Provenza asked from wherever he had found safety.

"I counted two," said Tao.

"They could just be support. Who's got an eye on the tree line?" Sanchez asked.

"Tree line's clear," said Flynn after a quick visual inspection.

"Don't be so sure," Raydor croaked after another coughing fit. She slashed her wand through the air, sending a shockwave toward the tree line. She and Flynn heard a distinct "oof!" as an unseen foe fell over.

"At least one on foot," Flynn announced. "Probably more."

"This is _insane_ ," said Raydor quietly.

"You wanna go back to Internal Affairs?" asked Flynn with a quirky smile.

Raydor narrowed her eyes, the appreciation she had been developing for Flynn beginning to diminish. "You wish," she said with a smirk. "Any rules here?"

"Yeah, win," said Flynn.

"We need cover before the fliers come back," Raydor pointed out after huffing angrily.

"We can't use the trees," said Flynn. "We know there's one hidden hostile. Knowing Moody, there's probably at least two more."

"Then we need to regroup with the rest of the team," said Raydor.

"We're a little pinned, in case you haven't noticed," said Flynn snidely.

Raydor looked across the grounds keenly, her eyes landing on the bright reflection of the rising sun on her metal mug. "We can blind the fliers. If we can force them to land, we can take their brooms."

Flynn followed Raydor's eyes. "And just how do you plan to blind two fliers with one mug?"

"Are you, or are you not, in possession of a wand?" Raydor asked smartly. "Look, here they come."

"Tao and Sanchez are in a position to possibly ambush," said Flynn. "Let's see if we can get the fliers landing there."

"They've made us," said Raydor, eyes glued to the fliers coming back for a second round.

" _Lumos!"_ Flynn shouted. Bright light shone from his wand tip, and he mercilessly focused his spell on the face of one of the fliers. Raydor quickly began work on the second.

"We're not going to get them to Mike and Julio," said Raydor as the fliers zigged and zagged every which way.

"We need them out of the sky," said Flynn. "I'll cover, you improvise."

Raydor kept her light shining until the brooms were over a wide-open area, then slashed her wand again. The first shockwave knocked the fliers off their brooms. With yet another shockwave she slowed their descent toward the ground.

Provenza ran forward and quickly immobilized one of the attackers while Tao engaged in a duel with the other, who had been quick to regain their footing. Sanchez hit the other attacker with a Stunner. The fliers were neutralized.

Raydor turned to confer with Flynn about the hostiles on the tree line, but instead found him being levitated by an assailant.

"Alright, we recognize our mistake," Provenza said loudly, presumably to an unseen Moody, while Sanchez and Tao dropped their wands and hung their heads.

"Yes," said Raydor, "giving up too early!" Her wand blurred from movement and, by the time it stopped, Flynn was back on his feet while his attacker fell over from their legs being locked together.

"Raydor!" shouted a grizzly voice.

Raydor jumped and turned to see an irate Moody limping toward her.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Moody raged.

"Saving Flynn, sir," said Raydor.

"Without consulting your team at all?" Moody asked.

"They surrendered!"

"To keep Flynn alive!" Moody argued. "There were two more enemies lying in wait! Had you pulled that stunt in real life, Flynn would more than be likely dead."

"I was simply told that our objective was to win," said Raydor.

"Losing a teammate is not winning!"

Raydor very much wanted to say more, but knew there was no way to refute Moody's point, and so swallowed her objection.

"He wants us to feel fear," said Sanchez lowly after Moody had limped off to talk with his assistants, "and he wants us to know what screwing up is and what it can mean. We never win. He makes sure of it."

"Thank you, Julio, but the fact still remains that I didn't think about the consequences of my actions, and I didn't think about the rest of you," said Raydor quietly. "Moody's right. I killed Flynn."

"You would have gotten flowers from me, in the real world," said Provenza. "If that's any consolation."

"You son of a – "

Tao quickly leapt in to cut Flynn off. "We're down to eight and a half minutes."

Raydor pivoted to look at Tao with wide eyes. "Until what?"

"Until Moody throws something else at us," said Sanchez.

"Yeah, he'll be nice and follow a schedule until lunch, then all bets are off," said Flynn.

"Lunch?" asked Raydor. "How long does training last?"

"We go until Moody gets tired of us," said Sanchez.

"And when is that, usually?" Raydor asked, looking at her watch.

"Sometime between now and the dawn of tomorrow," Sanchez answered.

"Seven minutes, forty-five seconds," Tao reminded.

Provenza started the team on a quick recap of their first fight of the day while Raydor looked concernedly toward the front gate. She soon cleared her head, however, and focused on what was happening before her. While the team talked, they addressed various injuries and checked each other over. At the end of ten minutes, Moody approached with brooms.

"You're a new team, and you clearly can't communicate yet," said Moody.

Raydor resisted the urge to bow her head to hide her face with her hair. It was with great effort she kept her chin up even as she felt her cheeks burning.

Moody shoved a broom into each of his intern's hands, then started heading for the Quidditch pitch. "Some team building seems to be in order. Provenza, Tao, Raydor, you're starting as Chasers. Flynn, Sanchez, Beaters. Your opponents have the same set up."

Raydor started to panic internally. She had not played Quidditch since middle school. Was Moody just determined to embarrass her as much as possible in front of her new team?

"Do normal game rules apply, sir?" Sanchez asked.

"For now," said Moody. The group had arrived at the pitch. "You've got ten minutes to warm up and talk strategy. Go."

Raydor looked uncertainly at her teammates. They either did not notice or chose to ignore her clear unease and simply gestured for her to join them in a small circle.

"Tao, time two minutes," said Provenza. "Alright, look, we haven't got a Keeper, so that's going to be our biggest challenge."

"I say Chasers should be primarily concerned with the Quaffle on both ends of the pitch. If the Beaters stay concentrated on the Bludger, they can use it to aid in keeping our goals clear," Flynn suggested.

"Before we go any further," said Raydor somewhat nervously, "I should tell you that I haven't played this game since I was fourteen."

"Just do what you can," said Tao.

"Moody's expecting us to get slaughtered, anyway," said Sanchez.

"Oh," said Raydor smally.

Provenza sighed heavily. "Look, Raydor, we were going to take a beating today, regardless. It's the first time Moody's had a crack at us since the whole deal with Johnson started, so quit it with the pity party.

"Now, I'll cover the West side of the pitch. Tao, cover center. Raydor, you stay East," Provenza commanded.

"East, right," said Raydor with a nod.

"Two minutes," Tao announced. He, Sanchez, Provenza, and Flynn all kicked off into the air almost immediately and Raydor, once again, hurried to catch up.

Flynn and Sanchez started hitting a Bludger released by Moody back and forth while Provenza went off to retrieve a Quaffle.

"Mike, what are we doing?" Raydor asked. She felt relieved that it was Provenza that had gone temporarily. While he had warmed up to her significantly from their first meeting, she still did not feel comfortable asking him for help. Tao, on the other hand, was always eager to share any information he could.

"You, Provenza, and I are going to play catch, essentially," Tao explained. "High-speed, don't-stop-moving catch."

"Okay," said Raydor with a nod.

As the three assigned Chasers started their exercise, Raydor's self esteem began to fall further. She dropped the Quaffle multiple times, or threw wide to her teammates. Once the actual game started, she only got worse. She felt her teammates getting more and more frustrated and, despite her best efforts, somehow managed to play with less skill than when she started.

When Moody finally called for a stop, Raydor was the first to the ground. She kept a small distance between herself and her teammates as they handed in brooms and were told by Moody that they had an hour and seventeen minutes, exactly, for lunch.

"Well, lunch is over in the Great Hall," said Flynn irritably, checking his watch. "Kitchens?"

"Sprout said she'd lock us up with the venomous tentacula if we gave students the impression that they're allowed in the kitchens this year," said Sanchez.

Flynn lolled his head back and sighed heavily.

"We don't have time to go any further than Hogsmeade," said Tao.

"Then let's go smooth talk Rosemerta and see if we can scrounge something," suggested Provenza.

"Rosemerta's not at her bar," said Raydor, "but I live in Hogsmeade. The least I can do for making your morning so miserable is provide a few sandwiches. Besides, it'd give me the opportunity to change."

The men agreed and the team set off. Most of the journey was spent recounting the extended Quidditch practice and determining what could be learned from it. It was only when the group began walking down a street full of cottages that conversation turned.

"I've gotta ask, Raydor," said Flynn. "Why don't you live on campus? The rooms are pretty nice, and as a T.A. you don't have to pay rent, food's thrown in, and there's no commute."

"I've got two very good reasons for not living on campus," said Raydor. "There's one of them now."

A little girl was running down the street as fast as her tiny legs would allow, a tutu billowing behind her. "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" she shouted. As she came almost within arm's reach of Raydor, she leapt into the air.

Raydor caught the girl, wincing as she did so. Her arms were already sore from Quidditch. "Looks like someone's had some sugar," she said amusedly as she shifted the girl's weight onto her hip.

"Spin me!" the little girl demanded.

"Oh, I don't think I can spin you today, Emily," said Raydor apologetically. "Mommy's arms hurt."

"I'll get you one of the puppy band-aids!" said Emily, beginning to squirm to get free.

Raydor set the girl down and smiled as she watched her run back to the same house she had come out of. Her smile only grew wider when she observed the faces of her teammates. "I told you I was married," she said in form of explanation.

"You never told us you had a kid!" Flynn burst.

"I don't really want people treating me differently," Raydor explained as the group began to climb the stairs to her door. "And it's two kids. Emily's six and Ricky's nearly three."

"Sharon! There you are! Heaven's sake, I thought you said you'd be back earlier!" said a familiar voice. Rosemerta came into view holding a small boy with a pacifier in his mouth.

"I thought I would be, but I underestimated my training," said Raydor. "You've met these guys, haven't you?"

"Oh, I know them well," said Rosemerta with a smirk.

"Make yourselves at home," said Raydor to her team, gesturing to the mismatching couches in her living room. She took her son from Rosemerta and blew a raspberry into his neck, making him smile and squirm. "They haven't been any trouble, have they?" she asked the shop owner.

"Ricky threw a bit of a fit when he realized you weren't home after he woke up, but he settled in. Emily's been waiting by the door for you for over an hour. Nothing to worry about," said Rosemerta casually. "You in for the day or do you have to go back out?"

"I've got – " Raydor shifted her son's weight to one arm to look at her watch, " – about forty-five minutes before I've got to head back out. Are you okay to stay with them or do I need to see if – "

"I can get them for a few more hours, but then I have to open shop," said Rosemerta. "You get yourself some lunch and I'll check next door to see if they're available while I run a quick errand."

"Thank you!" said Raydor sincerely. As Rosemerta left, she turned back to her wary teammates. "Turkey sandwiches okay for everyone?"

The teammates responded in the affirmative and Raydor turned to go to her kitchen, son still on her hip.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one wondering what the hell is happening," said Provenza after a moment of quiet.

"You're definitely not," said Tao. "If Emily's six, then – assuming the traditional order of things was followed – Raydor must have gotten married when she was – "

"Seventeen," piped up a little voice underneath the couch Tao and Sanchez had sat down on. "Mommy and Daddy got married when Mommy was seventeen."

Sanchez looked underneath the couch to see that Emily had half-stuck herself underneath it from behind. "What are you doing?" he asked slowly.

"Looking for my puppy band-aids," said Emily as if the situation were perfectly logical. She wiggled out from under the couch, then walked around the side of it so she could observe all four men. "Who are you?"

Before anyone could answer, Raydor came back into the room. "What all do you want – Emily! Why do you have dust all over you?"

"I was under the couch," said Emily.

"Haven't I asked you not to do that?" Raydor asked, her eyes giving a clear warning to her child. Emily looked down at her feet uncomfortably. "That's what I thought," said Raydor. "Now, the proper way to find out who someone is would be to say hi, your name, and then ask for theirs. Well go on!"

Emily resolutely walked up to Provenza. "Hi, I'm Emily Raydor. What's your name?" she asked unabashedly.

"Provenza," said Provenza, clearly uncomfortable.

"That's a weird name," Emily commented.

"It's my last name."

"Don't you have a first name?" Emily asked confusedly.

"No," Provenza answered.

Raydor cleared her throat before Emily could say something else silly. The little girl then went around and introduced herself to Flynn, Tao, and Sanchez, then returned to her mother.

"What do you all want on your sandwiches?" asked Raydor. "I've got mayo, tomatoes, lettuce, that sort of stuff."

"I know what everyone likes," said Tao, pushing himself off the couch. "Let me help."

"Thanks," said Raydor with a smile.

"Moooooooom," Emily whined. "Spin me!"

"We talked about that already, Emily," said Raydor, heading to the kitchen with Tao.

"Hey, Emily," said Sanchez as Emily started to pout. "You really want to spin?"

Emily nodded with hope gleaming in her eyes.

Sanchez stood and held out his hands. "Here, hold tight." Emily did as asked. Sanchez closed his own hands around the little girl's, then lifted her off her feet and swung her around in circles until she was shrieking with laughter.

"Do it again!" the little girl demanded once Sanchez put her down. She began hopping around at his feet, swiping to grab his hands.

"I think your mom would want you to ask nicely," Sanchez pointed out.

"Please?" Emily asked. "Please will you do it again?"

Sanchez happily obliged and only stopped spinning around when Raydor, little Ricky following her like a duck, and Tao came back into the living room with several plates. Emily lay on the floor out of breath from laughing so much.

"Thanks, Julio, for keeping her occupied," said Raydor as she sat on the arm of one of her couches. Once settled, she swooped down to pick up her son and placed him on her lap before beginning to eat.

"Oh, it's no problem," said Sanchez. "I'm one of seven, and I've got plenty of cousins."

"Seven?" asked Raydor. "Wow, your mother must be a saint!"

"Seven brothers and sisters?" Emily asked, scooting to sit at the coffee table where a little plate with a cute pink pattern had been placed for her. "Mommy, are you and Daddy going to have seven kids?"

Raydor put a hand to her mouth to keep from spitting out part of her sandwich. "No, sweetie, we aren't."

Emily huffed before taking a bite of her lunch.

"I think you've actually got my sister Anna in your freshman Charms class," said Sanchez.

"I'd started to wonder if you two were related," said Raydor. "She seems to be a very nice girl."

"Clearly you haven't seen her with Raquel," said Sanchez, his lip twitching upward. "Raquel's a Junior, and she and Anna share most of their clothes."

Raydor winced sympathetically as she recalled spats she had had with her own sister over clothes growing up.

"So who's this guy?" Flynn asked, tickling Ricky slightly. He seemed to have warmed up to Raydor upon being offered food by her.

Ricky, much more shy than his sister, abandoned his attempts to grab his mother's food and instead scooted away from Flynn's touch and buried his face in his mother's chest.

"Ricky, can you wave hello?" Raydor asked between bites. The little boy only grunted. "Mommy will share her food if you can show Andy how you wave."

Ricky very slowly turned to Flynn and open and closed his fist a few times. Flynn returned the gesture with a wide smile. As soon as Ricky had completed his mission, he looked up at his mother expectantly.

Raydor pulled the pacifier out of her son's mouth, then tore off a small piece of her turkey and gave it to him.

"So what other things can we expect from Moody today?" Raydor asked the room at large. Emily was so preoccupied with her food that she was forgetting to pester those around her, and her mother wanted to take full advantage of the fact.

"Who knows?" Provenza responded sourly.

"The only things we really ever know about our training sessions is that we'll be attacked in some way, shape, or form exactly when Moody says they're going to start, and that we'll be dueling at some point," said Tao.

"And will _every_ week be like this?" asked Raydor. "He won't ever give us an end time or let us off early?"

All the men simply shook their heads.

"He wants to basically over prepare us for the job," said Sanchez before stuffing the last of his sandwich into his mouth. "Long hours, hard work, not really knowing what's coming, that sort of thing," he elaborated after swallowing.

"Great," said Raydor unenthusiastically.

"Well you can always go back to Internal Affairs," suggested Provenza.

"Andy said the same thing earlier," said Raydor. "It's almost like you and he are trying to get rid of me."

"I would never do such a thing," said Provenza in mock outrage.

Raydor narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

"Uhhh, Raydor, I think someone may need changing," Flynn said, pointing his thumb at Ricky.

Raydor craned her neck to observe her son's face. "You just had to wait until I was home, didn't you?" she asked with a heavy sigh. She quickly popped the rest of her sandwich into her mouth, set her plate aside, then stood and headed toward the stairs.

"Wait, no!" Emily exclaimed, scrambling to get in front of her mother. "You can't go into Ricky's room!"

"Why not?" Raydor asked, hardly faltering in her progression up the stairs.

"There's a hippogriff in there! I trapped it earlier. It's so big!"

"Oh?" Raydor asked lightly. "And did this hippogriff break anything in your room before you trapped it in Ricky's?"

The pair of voices died away as Emily responded in the affirmative.

The men had begun exchanging looks when Rosemerta returned. "You boys are still here?" she asked.

"We've still got a few minutes before we need to head back for another beating," said Flynn.

"Well, if anyone deserves a beating, Andrew Flynn, it's you," said Rosemerta. "Your roommate could use one too, I suppose."

"That was uncalled for," said Provenza. "I've never done anything worthy of such a thing in my life!"

"Have you met yourself?" Sanchez asked cheekily.

"Ha ha," said Provenza drily.

"Where'd Sharon go?" Rosemerta asked after shaking her head amusedly.

"Ricky made a little surprise for her, so she took him upstairs," said Tao.

"That boy's got the best timing," said Rosemerta. "I swear he holds it until she gets home."

"You bribe him, don't you?" Provenza asked.

"I'll never tell," said Rosemerta mysteriously. "Do what you can to get Moody to let you all out at a decent hour. Sharon's working an event for me tomorrow and I don't want her to be too exhausted." Without another word, she left for another room.

"Class all week, training today, working tomorrow," said Flynn. "Raydor books herself a little tight."

"Sounds like a personal problem," said Provenza. He hauled himself to his feet. "We've got to get going."

"I'll see if Raydor needs help to wrap things up," Tao volunteered. He headed upstairs and padded quietly down the hall until he could hear murmuring.

"Are you going to be home tomorrow?" Emily asked.

"No, Mommy has to work tomorrow," Raydor answered sadly.

"What about the day after?"

"Well, Mommy's got to get up _really_ early to go do some work at the candy shop – Remember how much you liked it there? – and then Mommy has to go to school."

"But I want you to stay and play with me," Emily pouted.

"I know, sweetie, but Mommy has to work," said Raydor, sounding as if she were in physical pain. "If Mommy doesn't work, you won't have any juice boxes or cookies or spaghetti."

Tao gently knocked on a slightly open door. "Sorry to interrupt," he said uncomfortably. "We've got to get going, or we're going to be late."

Raydor, who had changed into workout clothes and tennis shoes, looked at Tao from where she had knelt on the floor to be at eye level with her daughter. She sighed, turned back to Emily, and kissed her on the head. "You be good for Rosemerta, okay?"

"Okay," said Emily sadly.

Tao pretended not to notice Raydor wiping her eyes as he followed her out of the house.

By the time Moody finally released the team at 9 o'clock at night, he had drilled them on dueling, tracking, and a little bit of interrogation. The interns went to their respective beds, completely worn out from the harsh day.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hello, lovelies! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I'm eager to hear what you think of my interpretation of our favorite Major Crimes team in their early and mid-twenties. Leave a review, and have a great week!


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Raydor's house became a new hangout for the team, and she frequently included Hobbs in her invitations, particularly enjoying a fellow woman's company. The group often retreated to the house after rough days to review for various tests after the school library closed or to study old cases. The adults also enjoyed playing with Emily and Ricky, who were only too happy to take advantage of their new situation.

Raydor found herself truly happy for the first time in years. She had made a home with her children, was studying something she loved, and had caring and supportive friends. Sanchez and Hobbs even volunteered to babysit when Raydor had to take a job or when she met with Flynn, Provenza, or Tao to catch up on training she had missed owed to her late start to the program. She was constantly exhausted, but found it surprisingly easy to keep going.

"Are you serious, Provenza?" asked Hobbs irritably, gathered around Raydor's coffee table with her friends on a Friday night. "Another draw-four? Do you just have them stuffed up your sleeve?"

Provenza pulled his arm out of Hobbs's reach as she made to grab his sleeve. "I'll never tell! You should grab your cards, Andrea."

Hobbs maintained unhappy and accusatory eye contact with Provenza while she drew four more Uno cards and added them to her impressive hand.

"It was your suggestion to play," said Provenza with an annoying smile.

"That was before I found out that you're a card shark," Hobbs said with a heavy sigh as she put her new cards in order.

"What color, Provenza?" Tao asked.

"Blue," Provenza answered.

"I'm with Andrea," said Tao as he reached to grab a card from the draw pile. "I think you're cheating."

"If we keep it blue, I can make him draw," said Sanchez.

"Hey, no table talk," Raydor objected. "That's against the rules."

"You didn't have a problem with it five minutes ago," said Flynn sourly. He had been down to one card when Raydor strategized to land him with three draw-twos. It had been the start of a string of bad luck, and now the only person further behind than him was Hobbs.

Before Raydor could respond, her doorbell rang. She waited with baited breath for a moment to see if either of her children would wake. When silence reigned, she exhaled from relief.

"Who the hell comes by at ten at night?" Flynn asked.

"I can think of one person," said Raydor as she pushed herself off her floor, "and I _really_ hope I'm wrong."

The bell rang again and Raydor practically flew to the door before a third attempt to wake her children could be made. "Mr. Moody!" she said in surprise upon opening the door. "What – "

"Been a month," said Moody, stepping inside. "Got an assignment for the lot of you. Figured I'd find you here. Who's the blonde?"

Raydor closed her door and set her forehead against it for the briefest of moments as Moody followed his magical eye to his interns. She relocked the door, then followed.

"You," said Moody, pointing at Hobbs. "Go check on Raydor's kid for her. He's about to make a break for his door."

Hobbs looked at Raydor, who nodded, and then went upstairs.

"Did I hear you say that you've got an assignment for us?" Flynn asked.

"Caught a murder," said Moody, looking carefully around the room as though someone might pop out of the wall to attack him. "You're going to work the case parallel to full time Aurors."

"When do we roll out?" Sanchez asked.

"You've got twenty minutes," said Moody.

Tao started gathering up the Uno cards to put back in their box. Raydor slipped upstairs while her teammates gathered more information from Moody.

"Ricky, you need to get back into bed now," said Hobbs. She sounded irritated, as though she had already made the request several times.

"Richard Raydor, get back in your bed this instant," said Raydor, coming to stand in her son's doorway.

Ricky, instead, came to stand at his mother's feet and lifted his arms toward her.

"Big boys get into bed all on their own," said Raydor. "If you can't behave like a big boy, Mommy's going to have to take your big boy bed away and you won't have your dragon sheets anymore."

Ricky considered for a moment before clumsily making his way across his room and clambering up into his bed. He did not get under his covers, however. "Hug," he demanded.

Raydor hummed in consideration, then crossed the room, sat on her son's bed with her back to the wall, and pulled him into her lap. She began stroking the top of his head and he relaxed into her.

"Andrea, I hate to ask, but – "

"I can stay with them," said Hobbs. "They'll have to entertain themselves for a while tomorrow while I study, but I'll make sure they don't do any serious damage."

Raydor smiled softly. "Thank you. Can you tell the guys I'll be down in just a minute?"

Hobbs nodded, then went back down to the living room. Moody had left, along with Tao and Sanchez. Flynn and Provenza were putting their shoes back on. "Duty calls?"

"Duty calls," Flynn confirmed. "Nasty murder. All possible hands on deck."

Hobbs nodded. "I guess I should be prepared for Madame Bones to throw the case my way to study. Sharon's getting Ricky back to sleep. She'll be down soon."

Raydor hurried down the stairs just two minutes later. She grabbed her shoes and purse before falling onto a couch. "Where'd Mike and Julio go?" she asked as she stuffed her feet into her shoes.

"Sanchez is getting our stuff from our rooms and Tao went with Moody," Provenza answered.

Raydor began heading for the door with her teammates and addressed Hobbs as she fastened on her travelling cloak. "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, Andrea. There's some grapes for the kids in the morning, and they can each have a scrambled egg. Make sure they drink their milk, too, please. And don't let Emily con you into a juice box, she – "

"Knows she's not supposed to have one before lunch, Sharon, I know," said Hobbs. "Get going."

Raydor flashed a harried smile before going out the door with Flynn and Provenza.

The trio found Sanchez and Tao exactly where Moody had told the group to meet and the team set straight to work, making their way up the street to the house that several people were flitting in and out of.

"Did you get anymore information on the victim, Tao?" Provenza asked.

"Moody called us in pretty quick," said Tao. "Examiner's only just got here. Still unpacking. All I know is that the victim's in her late twenties, lives alone, and that everything was locked up tight. And Tonks is lead on this case, so we'll be reporting to her."

"Victim have a boyfriend?" Flynn asked.

"Dunno," said Tao.

"Wotcher, interns!" said a cheery woman with bright pink hair on the doorstep of the house in question. "You must be the newbie. Raydor, right?"

"Sharon Raydor, that's right," said Raydor, offering her hand.

"Tonks," said the woman. "Come on in. I'll give you the tour of the place."

The interns followed Tonks through the small house as she discussed what had been noticed so far until, finally, they came to the scene of the crime. The room was in complete disarray. A duel had definitely taken place.

A woman with dark brown hair was sprawled out on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes were wide and unstaring. Her abdomen had been sliced open. Most of her organs were missing.

"Oh, God," said Flynn.

Raydor had to turn from the body to compose herself. It took a great deal of effort for her to turn back and begin to look closely.

"Where's her wand?" Sanchez asked.

"Missing," said Tonks. Between questions from the interns, she ordered about other Aurors doing their own work.

"Has her next of kin been found?" Flynn asked as Sanchez lit his wand and started searching the floor.

Tonks shook her head. "We don't even know her name yet. Examiner's sure taking his time getting in here."

"Sorry!" said a voice. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Examiner Jones made sure I checked all of my equipment three times before heading out." The Auror interns recognized the new arrival as a fellow TA, though they rarely interacted with him and most of them did not even know his name.

"Ah, Morales!" said Tonks warmly. "Meet Moody's interns: Provenza, Flynn, Raydor, Tao, and Sanchez. Interns, meet the Examiner's intern. He's qualified for initial examination, of course."

"Oh, we know each other already," said Tao, extending his hand to Morales. "Thanks for taking my patrol last week."

"No problem," said Morales. "Flitwick's got the records of everything, and now you owe me a shift in return."

Raydor, who had crouched down by the body, looked up at Morales. "Can you look at the skin of her stomach, please?"

"Straight to work. I like it. Give me a minute," said Morales. He, too, crouched by the body and opened a box he had brought with him. He went quickly through the woman's pockets and pulled out a wand license. "Her name's Elena Diggs," he said, handing the license off to Tonks, who only glanced at it before giving it to Tao.

Raydor looked keenly around the room. She took stock of the house slippers lying about, as well as several pairs of flip flops, but saw no shoes with heels or even any dressy flats. She also observed a substantial amount of junk food on a small table next to a couch.

"What's with you, Raydor?" Flynn asked. "You're fidgeting."

Raydor ignored Flynn. "Morales, could you please – "

"I've got a protocol to follow, Ms. Raydor," said Morales. "Give me a minute."

"You're costing some very precious time here, Morales! Her feet and breasts are swollen, and there is a bunch of food over there that, I know from experience, satisfies some _very_ intense cravings. Now check the skin on her stomach!" Raydor demanded, fire blazing in her eyes.

Morales's eyes widened and he quickly grabbed one of the flaps of folded over skin from the woman. He cleaned the skin of blood with his wand. "Oh," he breathed. "Oh my God!"

"Can you tell how far along?" Raydor asked intently.

"I'd have to check with my supervisor, but considering her build and the intensity of these stretch marks – "

"Would someone care to share?" asked Provenza irritably.

"This woman was pregnant!" Raydor snapped.

"Third trimester is very possible," said Morales. "These cuts are clean, done professionally. You may very well be looking at an exceptionally violent kidnapping. The baby would need immediate attention," he directed to Tonks. "Apparating with it would be too dangerous. You should get someone looking into all hospitals within a half hour of here."

"You lot, start tossing her room," Tonks ordered. "Find us a suspect." She hurried out the door without saying anything more.

Raydor looked down at Morales questioningly.

"Go," he urged. "There's nothing you can do for her but find her child."

The team hurried to the master bedroom of the house and began digging through everything in sight.

"I'm pretty sure this license is a fake," said Tao, carefully observing the license given to him by Tonks.

"Why do you think that?" asked Sanchez, dropping to his belly to look under the bed.

"I can't say," Tao admitted, "but something's definitely off. If you guys are okay with it, I'll go to the Auror office and start pulling this apart. Maybe I can find her real name."

"Yeah, go," said Provenza.

"Can someone check the top shelf of her closet?" Raydor asked as Tao headed out. "I can't reach."

Flynn obliged, pulling down a locked box. "Must be something she really didn't want anyone to find," he said.

"No, it's something she didn't want to look at," said Raydor. "She's shorter than I am. She would have had to stand on something to get this up there, but then it'd be out of sight, out of mind." She took the box from Flynn and set it on the bed before drawing her wand to begin trying to open it.

"Baby names," said Provenza, holding up a brightly colored book with a smiling infant on the cover. "She's got some pages marked. Looks like she was having a girl."

"We should let Tonks know," said Sanchez. "It'll help narrow the search for the kid."

"Got it!" Raydor exclaimed, opening the locked box. She dumped its contents. Several pictures, documents, and a diamond ring spread across the bed. She snatched the ring and examined it closely. "Whoever she is, she's married. Inscription's from her husband. I'm going to see if Tao's gone yet, and I'll update Tonks on the way."

"I'll do it," said Flynn, grabbing the ring and hurrying away.

Raydor grabbed half of the pictures on the bed and shoved them at Provenza. "See if you can pick out her husband or where she lived before she came here."

"Maybe the neighbors know," Sanchez suggested as he opened a dresser drawer.

"I don't think so," said Raydor. "She locked up all her pictures _and_ her ring. She's hardly got anything really personal through the house, either. She's trying to erase herself. She's hiding, and probably from her husband."

"Maybe he found her," said Provenza. He held up a picture of their victim and a man in the green robes of a Healer. "I think this guy might just have the knowledge necessary to gut a woman and take her unborn child out alive."

Raydor took the picture with a shaking hand.

"If he's a Healer, he probably wouldn't have taken the baby to a hospital. I'd guess he took it to some hiding place and is taking care of it, himself," Sanchez reasoned.

"But he's got the necessary skills to keep it alive," said Raydor. "We _are_ looking at a kidnapping." She exhaled unsteadily and grabbed another picture that caught her eye. "This was taken in Chicago, in Millennium Park. Maybe that's where she lived before running here."

Flynn returned. "Managed to catch Tao just before he got out," he said. "Find anything else?"

Provenza filled his partner in quickly. The team then hurriedly finished searching the bedroom and tossed an office before filling Tonks in on everything they found and heading to the Auror office.

"Did you find anything on the I.D., Tao?" Provenza asked as he and his teammates settled into their tiny office. The room was hardly big enough for the six of them to move around in. For convenience's sake, they tended to sit on the big table in the room rather than the chairs beneath it, as it enabled them to move about more freely.

"I was able to confirm it was a forgery, then handed it over to Dawlish. He's an expert in fakes. He'll identify who made it, then let everyone know," Tao answered.

"What about the ring?" Raydor asked.

"Tracked it to a store in Chicago," said Tao. "I'll call as soon as they open tomorrow. What else did you find in the house?"

Raydor plucked out the pictures of the victim with her husband in Healer's robes and in Millennium Park.

"You have more pictures?" Tao asked. When handed a stack by Raydor, he began sorting through them.

"Maybe we should head over to St. Mungo's," Flynn suggested. "Find this woman's Healer."

Raydor shook her head as she stared at the picture of the victim with her Healer husband. "A hospital, yes, but not St. Mungo's. Our victim was hiding. I doubt she wanted to risk running into any of her husband's friends. We should check nearby Muggle hospitals."

"Why don't you and I go ask around?" Flynn suggested. "Provenza, Tao, and Sanchez can keep going through all this stuff to see if they can find any other family members."

The team all agreed to the scheme and Flynn and Raydor set out after checking in with Tonks. They got lucky at the fourth hospital.

"Yes, I know that woman," said Dr. Ali. She was one of several doctors on duty in the maternity ward for the night. "Why do you ask about her?"

"Can we talk somewhere privately?" Flynn asked.

Ali lead the interns to her office and invited them to sit down.

"What can you tell us about Elena Diggs?" Raydor asked.

"I can't disclose – " Ali began.

"Elena is dead, Doctor, and we think someone cut her baby out of her to steal it," said Raydor, deciding against wasting time by sugar coating anything.

Dr. Ali's eyes widened drastically and she straightened in her chair. "Elena's dead?"

"And her child is missing," said Raydor.

"Oh, wow," said Ali. Blood suddenly drained from her face. "We were told to keep an eye out for a baby – "

"Yes, Elena's baby," said Flynn. "Doctor, we know you've got doctor-patient confidentiality to worry about, but Elena put up a hell of a fight to protect her child. I think she'd forgive you for helping us find it. Now we can get a warrant, but every second we argue with you lessens the chances of finding that little girl alive."

Ali rose unsteadily from her chair and grabbed a file from her shelf. "Elena was due in a month," she said sadly.

"Had she picked a name?" Raydor asked tenderly.

"Salvatora," Ali answered with a smile. "She said that her baby girl was her savior."

"Do you know why?" Flynn asked eagerly.

"I assumed the father of the baby wasn't the greatest person in the world, and she left to protect the baby. I let Elena know that I wanted to do whatever I could to help her and that she could confide in me," said Ali. "I knew something was wrong, but she never told me. I guess I should have pressed a little harder."

"Was Salvatora healthy?" Raydor asked.

"The baby was smaller than I would have liked," said Ali, checking her chart. "For most of the pregnancy there wasn't an issue, so I'd hoped Elena's body would adjust to fix the problem, but it didn't. Elena was supposed to come in tomorrow morning for another check. I was going to run a few tests to see if there was any real reason to be concerned."

Raydor blanched horribly. "What do you need to run those tests now?"

"A sample from her womb would help me eliminate some things, at least," said Ali.

Raydor set her forehead into her palm.

"Most of Elena's internal organs were removed," Flynn explained. "There's no womb from which to get a sample."

Ali's face showed a mixture of horror, distress, and disgust.

"Did Elena ever mention any family?" Raydor asked after recomposing herself. "Any siblings? Parents?"

"She did mention a sister a couple of times," said Ali. "Never mentioned a name, though."

"When did Elena start coming to you for care?" Flynn asked.

"About six months ago," said Ali. "She brought me a medical file from her previous doctor, but she'd blacked out anything that might have told me where she was or who the father is."

"Do you have that file?" asked Flynn.

"Yeah, it's here," said Ali, grabbing a small folder that did not match all the others on her shelf. "I honestly don't know what you can get out of it, though."

"Oh, our techs can work some magic and find something, I'm sure," said Flynn amusedly.

"Andy, do you have a card that we can give Dr. Ali?" Raydor asked, rising from her chair.

"Yeah," said Flynn. He dug around in his pocket until finally pulling out a card. "If you think of anything else that could be helpful, just call that number. Whoever picks up will be eager for any information you can give us."

"I'll look through Elena's file now, and have a colleague check it," said Ali, taking the card. "Maybe they'll notice something I didn't."

"Thanks," said Raydor. She and Flynn left, eager to share the news that the baby might be sick, that the situation was even more dire than previously thought.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

What would a Major Crimes fix be without a murder? Thanks for taking time to read! Let me know what you think of the chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

"Our victim's real name is Helen Powers," Tao announced after hanging up his phone. "That was the jewelry store. Owner says Helen's husband, Darren, bought the ring three years ago."

"Darren Powers," said Sanchez. "I'll go let Tonks know."

"While he does that, we need to start learning everything we can about Mr. Powers," said Provenza. "I've got a friend working in the Auror office in Illinois. I'll go try to floo call him now, see if he can tell us anything about the Powers."

Tao began typing away on the single computer in the cramped office. It and office phone were signs of the small, slow progress the magical world was making to work in union with the Muggle one.

"Where would you take your premature baby that you'd just ripped out of your estranged wife?" Flynn asked, contemplating all the papers on the table before him. "Had to go somewhere that no one would be suspicious of the baby's cries."

"That'd be just about anywhere," Raydor pointed out. "Helen ran away from him, so that means that he's been in pursuit. I sincerely doubt he's made any friends out here to stay with. He's probably holed in some cheap hotel, and I bet he would have switched locations after getting Salvatora. No one would think to be suspicious."

"He couldn't have just walked into some hotel with a screaming, bloody baby and _not_ aroused suspicion," Flynn argued. "He's gotta have a base."

"I found Powers's possible ally here in California," said Tao.

Raydor quickly moved to look over Tao's shoulder. "Who is it?"

"You were right. Helen was smart enough to avoid people her husband might have known. Meet Healer Christopher Shea. He and Powers graduated from the same training program back in Illinois," said Tao.

"You want to come with me to find out if he's seen his buddy lately?" Raydor asked.

"Hold that thought," said Flynn as their office phone rang. "Auror Interns, Flynn speaking." He put the phone on speaker.

"Flynn, someone should head down here," said the voice of Morales. "Examiner Jones and I found some things you should know about. Bring Tonks. She's not answering her office line."

"Thanks," said Flynn. "Someone will be down in a minute." He hung up the phone. "Alright, I'll grab Tonks and – "

"Actually," said Raydor, "I'd like to go."

"You sure?" Flynn asked.

"Definitely."

"Alright, then. You can tell Tonks where we're going and fill in her and Sanchez," said Flynn. "See you in a bit."

Raydor hurried over to Tonks's office, which was packed with people, and fought her way over to the pink hair. "Tonks! The examiner finished with Helen's body."

"Great," said Tonks. She summoned Sanchez, whom she had tasked with copying several files, back to herself. "Raydor and I are heading down to the Examiner's. Let Kingsley know that he's in charge until I get back."

"Wait!" Raydor objected as Tonks began heading out. "There's more! Tao found a fellow graduate of Darren Powers, a Christopher Shea. He works at St. Mungo's. Tao and Flynn are on their way to go grab him. They should have someone fully qualified with them."

Tonks barked out some other name and another Auror hurried over, then away when Tonks gave the order for her to join Flynn and Tao. Tonks then pushed Raydor out ahead of her and the pair quickly got on one of the elevators.

"Must have missed the examiner calling my office," said Tonks as the elevator descended. "Can hardly hear myself think in there right now."

Raydor nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the elevator door, waiting for it to open.

"That was a good catch," said Tonks, "figuring out the victim was pregnant. We might not have put it together until just now, otherwise. Moody says you've got a couple kids, yourself?"

Raydor smiled slightly. "Emily and Ricky, yes."

The elevator door finally opened and Raydor leapt out only to realize she had no idea where to go. She blushed slightly at Tonks's smirk, then followed the woman to one of several doors.

"Examiner Jones!" Tonks greeted after opening the door. She got out her wand and used some spell or other on herself and Raydor before stepping fully into the morgue. "What have you got for us?"

Examiner Jones, a short man with a long nose and glasses, looked over to his intern, who sighed heavily.

"I did most of the work on Ms. Diggs," said Morales, "with Examiner Jones's supervision, of course."

"Mrs. Powers," said Raydor. "Her real name is Helen Powers."

Morales nodded. "Well, it's not pretty. I'm sure you're not surprised. She was definitely engaged in a duel before she died. She's got a welt on her ankle from a Stinging Hex, and she blocked some pretty harsh spells. Her fingertips are burned from her wand reacting to something or other.

"Now, what I think happened for the final blow," Morales continued. "She was knocked backwards, hitting her head on the hardwood floor. Her dizziness allowed her attacker enough of an advantage to Stun her and use some variant of a Severing Charm to open her up. A few complex medical spells later, and poor Helen's attacker left with her wand and her child. She bled out."

Raydor instinctively put her hand on the dead woman's forehead. "Brutal," she said under her breath.

"I also found tears on her face," said Morales lowly.

"She saw her own child taken out of her body," said Raydor thickly. "I can't imagine."

"So her husband, a Healer, definitely had the skillset to do this?" Tonks asked.

"Oh, it'd have to be a Healer," said Examiner Jones. "There are regulations on the kinds of spells used on this woman. They're only taught when someone's studying medicine, and the secret's well kept for reasons exactly like this."

"Helen's Muggle doctor said the baby was smaller than she would have liked," said Raydor, removing her hand and moving back to Tonks's side. "Did you find anything that might explain that?"

"Blood work was normal," said Morales. "There's no way to prove it now, but the only thing I can possibly think of is that something got twisted and hurt the nutrient supply to the baby."

"And what would that mean in term's of survival outside the mother?" Tonks asked.

"It doesn't help the child's chances," said Jones heavily.

Raydor exhaled unsteadily.

The door to the room suddenly burst open.

"Ma'am, we have a location for Powers," said Sanchez to Tonks.

"I want the lot of you gathered by the fountain in the main lobby in five minutes," Tonks ordered, then hurried out.

"The classmate gave him up?" Raydor asked, winding through the halls with Sanchez until getting on an elevator.

"Said Powers rented a little house. Powers told Shea that he and his wife were moving to the area and that he came ahead to set up a home," said Sanchez.

"So Shea had no idea that Helen was already here?"

"So says Shea," Sanchez answered. "This attack shows a lot of rage, though. Powers had to have shown his capabilities before. I think Shea needs to be investigated as a possible accomplice."

"Well we can get to him later," said Raydor, stepping off the elevator. "Right now we need to find that baby!"

"I'll get Provenza. He's still talking with his buddy from Illinois," said Sanchez.

"Andy and Mike go back to our office?" Raydor asked, already heading that direction.

"I think so!"

Raydor power walked back to the office. "Mike! Andy! Come on, we're meeting Tonks downstairs."

"About time!" said Flynn, leaping off the table. "I still think we should have just gone to get the dirtbag!"

"Without any backup?" asked Tao. "No! We know what this guy's capable of, and he's got a hostage."

Raydor tuned out her teammate's arguing and the group soon arrived at the appointed meeting spot. The interns, along with Tonks and two other qualified Aurors, Disapparated the moment the address was shared.

The crew arrived down the street from a small house and Tonks began hissing orders. "Provenza, Flynn, go around the back with Dawlish. Top priority is the baby, everyone understand?" She nodded with satisfaction upon hearing affirmative responses. "Be careful."

The enlarged team split. Tonks gestured for Tao and Sanchez to keep an eye on the front windows while she began checking out the front door with Raydor, and the last Auror began waving his wand about, presumably to prevent Powers running away. After performing counters to a few protective jinxes, Tonks knocked on the door.

"Hello? Auror Department. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Tonks asked when no one came to the door.

"Busy," said a voice inside. "Come back later."

"No, I think you should talk to me now, Mr. Powers," Tonks insisted.

"I can tell by your voice what you're here for," said Powers, "and you can't have her!"

"Mr. Powers, you're surrounded and you can't Apparate away," said Tonks. "Come out with the girl and we can figure this out before things get any worse."

Powers did not respond.

"Mr. Powers, I'm going to give you ten seconds," said Tonks. She counted down aloud, then blasted the door open with her wand.

Raydor followed Tonks with her wand drawn. The Aurors and interns soon had Powers within a circle of their wands. The despicable man simply stood, a bundle of blankets against his chest.

"I'm the only chance the kid has," said Powers to his adversaries.

"You're the reason the baby's in such trouble," said Tonks. "I'm putting my wand away, and you're going to give me the baby."

"I'm all the kid's got," Powers objected.

"Salvatora," said Raydor. "That's the name Helen picked out for her."

"She doesn't have a name," Powers argued. "Not yet! Helen thought she could just take our child away? She was wrong!"

Raydor looked over at Tonks for approval before pocketing her own wand. Tonks pulled hers back out and took a step away. Raydor next looked to Provenza on the opposite side of the circle significantly before taking a step toward Powers.

"It wasn't very fair of Helen to run away like that, was it?" Raydor asked. The sympathy in her voice made her sick, but she knew she had to play along to get the baby. "I'm sure she said all kinds of horrible things to her family and to your friends about you, didn't she?"

"Told everyone I hit her all the time," said Powers, the rims of his eyes reddening.

Raydor took another cautious step forward. "I'm sure you didn't mean to," she said soothingly. "Those things just happen sometimes, right? You never meant for anything like this to happen."

Powers shook his head.

Another step forward. "You just want to be a part of your daughter's life. Helen wasn't going to let that happen, I know. You only did what you had to for your little girl."

Yet another step. Raydor was now within arm's reach of Powers. She slowly stretched out her hands. "Your little girl needs to get to a hospital, Darren. She's sick. She can't be helped from here. She needs a specialist. Give her to me. I'll take her to St. Mungo's, I promise."

"I'll take her myself," said Powers. "I'm her father."

"You're also a wanted man," Raydor gently pointed out. "If you walk into St. Mungo's, you'll get pinned by security immediately. They don't know your daughter's situation. She might get hurt."

Powers's grip on his daughter relaxed somewhat, and he seemed to be considering handing her over.

"I've got kids," said Raydor. "My daughter's name is Emily. She's six. I'll treat your little girl like my own."

Ever so slowly, Powers relinquished his daughter. Raydor stepped back and Provenza quickly Stunned Powers.

"We need a Healer here, now," said Raydor immediately, quickly looking the baby over. "Her breathing's shallow and her skin's discolored."

"Tao, Sanchez, get over to St. Mungo's and bring the head of maternity back here," Tonks ordered. "He doesn't have a choice in the matter."

Tao and Sanchez ran off while Dawlish and Tonks secured their prisoner. The third Auror Disapparated to warn Azkaban of its impending new arrival.

Raydor sat on a nearby table with the baby and began rocking back and forth slightly. "Hello, Salvatora," she cooed.

The baby's eyes fluttered open and locked onto Raydor's.

"Hello," said Raydor again with a wide smile. "You know your name already, don't you, Salvatora? I bet your mommy talked to you all the time. She loved you very much."

The outside world disappeared to Raydor as she stared into the little girl's eyes.

"Your mommy worked so hard to try to keep you safe," Raydor continued talking softly to the baby. "She left all her friends and family just so you could have a normal life, Salvatora. You're a very lucky girl."

The baby yawned in response and flailed her tiny arms. Raydor gave a little laugh.

"You won't get to meet your mommy anytime soon, hopefully," Raydor explained. "She went away, but she misses you."

"Sharon?" said a voice quietly.

Raydor lifted her eyes and looked around confusedly before remembering where she was. She looked at Flynn beside her, his hand on her shoulder, and then to the Healer before her. She handed the baby over without a word.

The Healer set the baby carefully on the table and began waving his wand about. Raydor, Flynn, and Provenza waited with baited breath. After what seemed like an eternity, the Healer turned back to them.

"Well?" said Raydor eagerly.

The Healer shook his head sadly. "She shouldn't have made it this long. We wouldn't be able to get her back to St. Mungo's in time to do anything."

Raydor nodded once, then moved around the Healer to pick the baby up again.

Flynn and Provenza showed the Healer out, feeling as though they were interrupting an intimate moment.

"Well, Salvatora, it seems I lied to you," said Raydor softly. The baby's eyes had closed. "You're going to get to go see your mommy very soon. She'll be sad you didn't get to grow up, but I'm sure she'll be excited to see you!"

The baby's chest convulsed with a few coughs as she tried to take in breath.

Raydor set her hand on the baby's head and began stroking the girl's forehead with her thumb. "You're beautiful, Salvatora. You look just like your mommy."

The baby's breathing became even more shallow.

"It's okay to let go, Salvatora," Raydor choked out. "You must be so tired! You can go to your mommy, now. It's okay."

Raydor continued rocking slightly and speaking soothingly for a few more minutes before she noticed the baby's chest was no longer rising and falling. She kissed the girl's forehead and mopped up her tears with her sleeve.

After another private moment with the baby, Raydor got off the table and walked outside where Flynn, Provenza, and the healer were waiting. She handed the baby's body over and watched as the healer disapparated with it.

"You okay, Sharon?" Flynn asked gently after a moment.

"I – I think so," said Raydor thickly, still staring at the spot where the healer had disappeared.

"We'll take care of all the paperwork," Provenza volunteered. "Why don't you go home?"

Raydor nodded and gave a weak, but appreciative smile before leaving.

"You're back earlier than I – Sharon, what happened?" Hobbs asked when Raydor walked through the front door.

"We wrapped up the case," said Raydor unsteadily. "Um, have the kids had lunch yet?"

"No, they've been playing upstairs," said Hobbs. "Sharon, what – "

Emily suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs and squealed happily at the sight of her mother. She ran over and wrapped her arms around her mother's legs.

Raydor bent down and picked up her little girl, beginning to sway.

"Why are you crying, Mommy?" Emily asked, pushing herself back to look at her mother's face. "Are you sad?"

"A little," Raydor admitted, severely understating her current emotions.

"Will hugs help?" Emily asked.

"Your hugs always help," said Raydor with a smile.

Emily leaned forward, putting her head over her mother's shoulder and wrapping her tiny arms around the woman's neck tightly. "Don't be sad, Mommy."

Raydor hummed, closed her eyes, and continued to sway with her daughter in her arms.

Hobbs quietly grabbed her belongings and slipped out the front door without disturbing her friend.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

-reading from instruction manual- Hmm... let's see... fold written material into pointed object -quickly does so- insert sharp, pointed object with force... -does so, checks manual- Twist... and remove. Hmm... no, that doesn't look quite right. -tries again- Nope. -again- Oh, jeez, I've made a mess of this. I didn't mean to hurt you that much... I'm sorry.

Thanks for taking time to read! Toss an update this way, would ya?


	5. Chapter 5

Including the Powers case, the team was assigned a case every weekend for a month straight, working under Tonks or Kingsley each time. After the last case, Moody had brought them together for training on a Saturday to announce that he had chosen a new team lead: Sharon Raydor. Provenza and Flynn were a little sore, Provenza longer out of the two, but both settled down within a week.

The closer the team got, the more efficient they became and the more responsibility they were given. In addition to being put in charge of the school's patrol and being asked to start an extracurricular examining current events, the team expanded. Hobbs was officially attached to the team as legal counsel. A young man, Buzz Watson, working on a team focused on integrating Muggle and magical technology, was also added. He and Tao hit it off right away and added several different gadgets to the team's already crammed office. The team also saw more and more of Morales, though he was not attached by any official means.

It was with a full heart and pep in her step that Raydor reported to her Head of House's office for a mid-semester check in.

"Good morning, Professor Sprout!" Raydor greeted.

"Good morning, Ms. Raydor," said Sprout distractedly, looking at a letter. "Sit down."

Raydor waited a few seconds, then reached into her bag and pulled out a case study Moody had given the team. The file in one hand, travel mug in the other, she made use of her time waiting on Sprout.

"Ms. Raydor," said Sprout. When her student looked up, she raised her eyebrow.

"Oh," said Raydor, quickly stuffing her file back into her bag. She noticed several things on Sprout's desk had ben put away as though Sprout had been waiting for her to reach a stopping point. "Sorry, Professor."

"Well, let's get right to the point," said Sprout. "Professor Flitwick wants you on a research team next semester."

Raydor cracked a wide smile, which quickly faltered. "Might I ask why you're talking to me instead of Professor Flitwick?"

"We touched on the subject just a moment ago," said Sprout. "Do you know how long I waited for you to look up before I made you?"

Raydor kept her face still and desperately tried to fight the blush she could feel creeping into her cheeks.

"A full two minutes," said Sprout. "I wasn't very quiet about clearing up my desk, either."

"I'm not seeing a point, Professor," Raydor said as politely as she could manage.

"The point, Ms. Raydor, is that I'm concerned for your welfare and don't think taking on another responsibility is the greatest idea in the world for you right now," said Sprout bluntly.

"All because I got a little wrapped up in a case file?" Raydor asked. "Professor, I – "

"You work three mornings a week helping shops in Hogsmeade stock before they open," said Sprout. "You also work a few events a week for Rosemerta or her friends. You've gone to Diagon Alley to help Madame Malkin on more than one occasion. Your team is getting called more frequently by the Auror office to work investigations. When you combine these things, plus more I haven't found out about yet, I'm sure, with all your responsibilities as a T.A. and parent and I don't know when you find time to sleep!"

Raydor puckered her lips slightly and looked toward the ceiling as she considered. "Is my classwork suffering?" she asked finally.

"No," said Sprout.

"Are my students keeping a proper pace?"

"Yes."

"Have I been slacking in any of my duties as a T.A.?"

"No, but you're missing the point," said Sprout.

"I don't see how," Raydor argued. Her smile had a dangerous sort of quality to it, though her voice remained steady. "I am fulfilling all the requirements of my position. What I do off grounds, frankly, isn't any of your concern and I would thank you to stop digging around my personal life."

"I beg to differ. What you do off grounds can affect your performance on – "

"But it's not," said Raydor. "You've admitted as much. I appreciate your concern, Professor, but I know my situation and my limits, and I can handle it. I would like to talk to Professor Flitwick about the research he's considering me for before you decide I'm not available."

Sprout sighed heavily. "Fine, but be careful. I'd hate to see you break and lose everything."

Raydor's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, looking as if she had been slapped in the face. "I know what rock bottom is, Professor, and believe me when I say that I am _nowhere_ near it, nor am I likely to be ever again."

Raydor slung her bag over her shoulder and barely paused at the office door to wish her professor a good day with a fixed smile.

* * *

"So what did Sprout want?" asked Hobbs as she joined Raydor and Flynn at a table for their History of Magical Law Enforcement class.

"To badger me about something that's none of her business," Raydor answered.

"Was that a pun?" Flynn asked.

"Oh my God, you're on the front lines of keeping our world safe," said Hobbs dismally.

"What?" said Flynn defensively. "Hufflepuff, badger, come on!"

Hobbs shook her head slightly as if to clear it and redirected her attention back to Raydor. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, where did you get that green dress? The one with the super cute belt?"

Raydor turned slowly to Hobbs with a certain amount of horror on her face. "Have you gone through my closet?" she asked tightly.

"Not exactly," said Hobbs. "Emily wanted to play dress up the other day, so she helped herself to your shoes and bags. I didn't think you'd mind. I just noticed the dress."

Raydor seemed to relax slightly. "For future reference, I'd prefer Emily to refrain from digging around my room without my supervision."

"Noted," said Hobbs. "Now where'd you get the dress?"

"Madame Malkin let me have it as thanks for helping her with a big order a few weeks ago," Raydor answered.

"Good morning, class!" said Professor Reeves, striding quickly into the room.

Reeves was one of several adjuncts that had been brought in at the start of the Continued Education Program. No one that had ever taken a class with Professor Binns could justify his continued teaching of any, much less history, courses. The old ghost likely still prattled on about this and that in his classroom, but he no longer had any students.

"I apologize for my tardiness," said Reeves. "Let's dive right in!"

"He's so pretty," Hobbs breathed, staring at the well-sculpted face of the instructor.

"You are so sad," said Raydor with a chuckle.

Flynn took his turn to roll his eyes at Hobbs as Reeves began lecturing. He found himself unable to focus, however, as he considered Raydor's facial expression when she thought Hobbs had gone through her closet. He vividly remembered Raydor's explanation of why Helen Powers had a locked box up out of her reach, and could not help but wonder what Raydor might be hiding, and if she were in a similar situation.

After class, Flynn pulled Raydor into an empty classroom. "Now please don't get mad, Sharon, but I really need to ask you a question," said he. "I've been thinking about it all class. Longer than that, really, but now I can't not ask."

"You're making me nervous, Andy," said Raydor. "Spit it out."

"Okay, so you looked really upset when you thought Andrea might have gone through your closet, which reminded me of Helen Powers," said Flynn. "Sharon, are you running from your husband?" he blurted.

Raydor's eyes narrowed dangerously. "My relationship with my husband isn't any of your concern, Andrew," she said coldly.

"It is if it could get you hurt!" Flynn objected. "Or Emily and Ricky!"

"They are _my_ children," snapped Raydor, "not yours!"

"I'm not saying that they are. Sharon, all I want to know is if you and your children are safe. If there's something I can do to help – "

"I am not running from my husband," said Raydor shortly. "He knows exactly where I am, and he knows I have the kids. I thank you for your concern, Andy, but it's not necessary, and I'd appreciate it if you kept this conversation to yourself."

Raydor turned and left hurriedly, though Flynn distinctly heard her sniff on her way out.

* * *

"This can really only end poorly," said Provenza, looking into his cauldron. The team had been told to concoct an incredibly difficult potion by Professor Snape. As such, they were all gathered in the Potions classroom supervising their cauldrons and cursing their professor late at night.

Tao glanced at Provenza's potion. "Give it a few more stirs."

"I stirred it just like the book told me to," Provenza argued.

"Fine," said Tao, "but I'm telling you that it looks screwy because it needs to be stirred more."

"Why do we have to do this?" Flynn asked no one in particular. "We're going to be working for the government. We can just requisition whatever potion we might need and the professionals can make it happen."

"We _are_ the professionals," said Tao.

"The Auror department has it's own potioneers," said Raydor, looking carefully at her book before adding something to her cauldron. "You might be assigned as one, Andy."

"Not if I can help it!" said Flynn.

"Since when has Moody given us a choice in anything?" asked Sanchez blandly.

"Has anyone gotten to the point of adding the scarab yet?" Tao asked as Flynn glared at Sanchez unamusedly.

"I will be in just a minute," said Raydor. "Why?"

"I just put mine in and want to compare," said Tao.

"Um, excuse me," said a voice.

The team, as one, turned toward the door to see a girl in Gryffindor robes bouncing slightly on her heels with a pad of paper in her hands.

"Sykes?" Flynn burst after a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"It's almost curfew for you," said Raydor, checking her watch. "You need to get back to your room."

"I know," said Sykes, "but I heard you guys were here late tonight, and I've been wanting to ask you some questions for a long time." She stepped further into the room and sat at a desk that had been pushed aside.

Raydor looked at the girl with surprise evident on her face. Flynn set his elbow on his table and covered his face with his hand.

"We're a little busy at the moment, Sykes, so run along," said Provenza.

"You've got half an hour to wait for your potions to brew after adding the scarabs," said Sykes. "I heard Mr. Tao say so a few minutes ago."

"You've been listening in on our conversation?" Sanchez asked with a bit of a growl.

Sykes merely smiled. "I love those shoes, Ms. Raydor."

"Thank you," said Raydor uncertainly, turning her head slightly to look at Sykes from a different angle.

"I'm going to be applying for a position as an Auror intern next semester," said Sykes. "I was hoping you all would be willing to give me some advice for getting in."

"The first thing we would suggest, Sykes, would be to listen to and respect your superiors," said Provenza significantly with false civility.

Sykes nodded and made a note, clearly having not picked up on Provenza's hint.

Provenza raised his hands and shared an exasperated look with Flynn. Raydor could not help but stifle a laugh.

"Sykes, I want you to take a second and think about what Provenza just said," said Flynn.

"Oh, I wrote it down," said Sykes. "Superiors, got it. What else?"

"Provenza, your potion!" Tao exclaimed suddenly.

Provenza leapt back as his cauldron began to bubble violently, shooting small amounts of its contents into the air. "It shouldn't be doing that!"

"You think?" asked Flynn smartly.

"Stir!" Tao ordered as he quickly crushed a scarab.

Provenza very cautiously grabbed the stirring stick of his cauldron and began moving it clockwise. All his caution was wasted, however. He swore as flecks of his potion peppered his arm.

Tao tossed in the ground up scarab and, after a few more stirs, the potion settled. "I told you it needed to be stirred more!" he said emphatically to Provenza.

"I've got bigger problems than your 'I told you so,' Tao," said Provenza shortly, gripping his forearm.

"Here, Provenza," said Raydor, striding over with her wand out. "Julio, can you grab some essence of murtlap from the shelf?"

"I guess even homework can be dangerous, huh?" said Sykes.

"Listen here, Sykes," said Flynn tightly. "If we wanted you're opinion, we'd ask for it. Now get lost!"

"I've actually got a few questions," said Sykes.

"Out!" Flynn barked, pointing to the door.

Sykes considered for a moment, then pursed her lips, gathered her things, and left, taking care to slam the door behind herself.

"Sit down, Provenza," said Raydor after applying the essence Sanchez had brought. "You should be fine in a few minutes."

"If Sykes ever _does_ get into the Auror program," said Provenza irritably, "I _will not_ work with her!"

* * *

"Meet Amy Sykes," said Moody, limping up behind his team on Saturday morning. "She'll be shadowing your training today."

"Is nothing sacred anymore?" Provenza asked the sky.

Raydor put a hand over her mouth to cover her smile, but could not hide the amusement in her eyes.

"Your goal for the morning is to find your civilian teammates," said Moody. "They're somewhere in the forest with a half-hour head start on you. Locate them and keep them safe as though they were witnesses in a case."

"How many civilians, sir?" asked Sanchez.

"You got Hobbs, Morales, and Watson," said Moody.

"Do we know how many hostiles we need to be concerned with?" Tao asked.

"I do," said Moody. "You don't."

"Great," said Flynn under his breath.

"Sykes is also your responsibility," said Moody. He looked at his watch. "It's 7:00 now. You've got until noon to show up back here with your charges. Good luck."

"I think I'd prefer the usual ambush," said Flynn as he and his teammates began heading for the forest.

"Don't give him any id – Seriously?" Provenza asked with disbelief as three people came charging out of the forest for them.

"Mike, Julio, take Amy into the forest with you. Find a clearing near the tree line to hide in and we'll be there shortly," said Raydor, drawing her wand.

Sanchez grabbed Sykes's arm and forced her to hang back with him and Tao as Raydor, Provenza, and Flynn engaged the hostiles in duels. Once sure the enemies were properly occupied, Sanchez shielded Sykes with his body and headed for the forest while Tao ran alongside, keeping a Shield Charm in place between his partner and the ongoing duels.

"Shouldn't you go help them?" Sykes asked once Sanchez set her behind a tree a short distance into the forest.

"Our job, Sykes, is to keep track of you," said Sanchez. "We follow orders, which seems to be something you have difficulty doing."

"I can follow orders," said Sykes hotly.

"Really?" asked Sanchez. "Is that why you stayed in that classroom the other night after we told you to leave?"

"None of you are in charge of me," Sykes argued.

"Flynn's above prefects for your House!" Sanchez shouted. "He's got authority over you!"

"Julio!" Tao whispered urgently. "You'll give away our position!"

Sanchez stared Sykes down for another moment before stepping away from her.

After a few more uncomfortable minutes, Raydor, Flynn, and Provenza tumbled into the clearing.

"We got one of them to tell us there are at least three guards on each of our hostages," said Raydor, chest heaving as she tried to regain her breath.

"Flynn, you've got a cut on your face," said Tao.

"And my leg," said Flynn, wincing as he leaned against a tree. He set his wand to his left thigh and began muttering a spell.

Raydor pulled her hair out of what was once a neat ponytail and began working to redo it. "Alright, we've got a little under five hours to find three hostages, and we're going to slow down each time we pick one of them up," she said to her team.

"You wanna split up?" Sanchez asked.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," said Raydor. "We need to mostly stay together, though I do want scouts. Julio, Andy, would you do the honors?"

"Yeah, okay," said Flynn, sighing in relief as he finished healing his leg. "Where do you want to be headed?"

Raydor grabbed a stick and took a knee to begin drawing a rough map on the ground. "We're right about here."

"Moody said the hostages have a half hour lead on us," said Tao, grabbing his own stick. "Meaning they could be as far away as here."

"But we know they're moving with at least four in a group," said Sanchez. "That'd slow them down."

Tao adjusted the line in the dirt he had made.

"There's a clearing right about there," said Provenza, pointing with his toe. "It's got plenty of hidey holes to stuff a hostage, and it's just deep enough into the forest that anyone doing a quick search probably wouldn't bother."

"Let's head there, then," said Raydor, standing and brushing away the map with her foot. "Julio, Andy, get going. We'll follow in a few minutes. If anything goes south, I take a chunk out of a tree and find a safe spot for yourselves. Even if you see one of our hostages, I want you to wait for the rest of us before engaging the enemy, if possible."

Flynn and Sanchez nodded before exiting the clearing.

"Why not use sparks?" asked Sykes. "Shooting sparks into the air would let us know what was going on faster than looking for a damaged tree."

"It'd also give our positions away to more potential enemies," Raydor explained patiently. "Mike, I'd like to make Amy your personal responsibility until I say otherwise."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Tao, moving to stand beside Sykes.

After enough time passed to give the scouts an adequate head start, Raydor, Provenza, Tao, and Sykes began following in their scouts' footsteps, headed deeper into the forest. They all kept a keen eye for a tree with a chunk taken out of it, but found nothing. After more than half an hour, they came across Flynn and Sanchez hiding out in a tight tree formation.

"What have you got?" Raydor asked.

"Buzz's bag is in the clearing," said Flynn. "We didn't see any movement and don't even have confirmation he's really there."

"Maybe not, but he's definitely passed through, at least," said Raydor. "I need someone up in these trees. Get me a bird's eye view." She looked pointedly at Provenza.

"I don't climb," said Provenza firmly.

Sanchez took off his cloak. "I'll do it, ma'am." He pulled himself into the nearest tree without another word.

Raydor tapped Provenza on the shoulder and the pair quietly slipped through the trees to get a look at the clearing for themselves. Buzz's bag lay against the base of a tree, as if it had fallen out of it. They saw no other sign of their colleague and headed back to their team in time to see Sanchez drop back to the ground.

"They're in the trees, waiting for us to walk through," said Sanchez. "One to the south, one to the east, and one to the west."

"Any sign of Buzz?" Raydor asked.

"No, ma'am, but he could be up with one of his captors," said Sanchez.

"Provenza, Andy, I need you swing wide around the clearing, please," said Raydor. "Once around, then report back. I want you to keep a special eye out for anything else belonging to Buzz. Maybe he's trying to give us hints."

As Flynn and Provenza disappeared into the trees, Tao turned to his team leader. "What's the plan?"

"Depends on what those two come back with," said Raydor with a sigh. "If we can manage to get Buzz without engaging his captors, I'd prefer it. I don't like the bag where it is, though."

"It's bait to draw us into a trap," said Sanchez.

"Then why not just use Buzz, himself?" asked Raydor. "If we could _see_ him in trouble we'd be much more likely to do something stupid. They're counting on us trying to get the bag. Why?"

"Sending a message?" Sykes suggested. "They can hide him in plain sight and not be worried?

"Doubtful," said Sanchez, rolling his eyes at Sykes.

Flynn and Provenza returned before long, Buzz in tow.

"The triumphant warriors return!" said Provenza with a flourish of his hand.

"I'd just like to say that I _really_ don't appreciate being dragged out of bed at six in the morning on a Saturday to be forced into your training," said Buzz sullenly.

"Believe me, Buzz, it wasn't our idea," said Flynn.

"This was too easy," said Raydor suspiciously. "We retrieved Buzz without firing a single spell? Either his captors are exceptionally stupid, or – " Raydor's eyes widened dramatically and she turned slowly to face Buzz. "What else is there?" she demanded of him.

Buzz winced uncomfortably. "My bag has information that can help you find Morales," he admitted. "And Moody told me that you'd better not meet him without it. Hypothetically, it also contains evidence in your case."

"So they waited for us to grab Buzz so we'd be forced to move slower," said Raydor with a heavy sigh.

"Sorry," said Buzz.

"Did you have a guard?" Raydor asked.

"Yeah, they watched me walk away with Flynn and Provenza," Buzz admitted. "I wasn't supposed to say anything, or they'd have taken the three of us out."

"So we've got four hostiles," said Flynn with a sarcastic grin. "That's fantastic."

"I can help," Sykes volunteered. "I'm in Dueling Club and – "

"Sykes, just shut up," said Provenza. "You're here to _observe_ , which does not require any vocalizations."

"I think I have an idea," said Tao.

"Let's hear it," Raydor said.

"Last year we did a lot of work with Mirror Charms," said Tao. "If we set a few Charms right, we can hopefully disorient our friends waiting for us, kind of like those rooms at carnivals."

"Draw me a diagram, Mike," said Raydor. While Tao grabbed a stick and set to work with Sanchez's help, she turned to Flynn and Provenza. "Provenza, Buzz is your responsibility. Andy, Amy's yours. Start heading East. I want you between one and two miles away. If you don't hear from us within an hour, get out of the forest."

"Moody'll have our assess if we come back without you guys," Flynn pointed out.

"Moody'll have our assess if none of us come back, too," said Provenza. "Let's go." He, his partner, and their charges disappeared into the forest.

"Alright, we're outnumbered and possibly out skilled," said Tao when Raydor moved to look over his shoulder, "but I refuse to believe that we're outsmarted." He explained, in detail, his plan involving Mirror Charms, blitz attacks, an escape route, and Sanchez in a tree.

Before long, Sanchez was pulling himself back up into a tree while Tao and Raydor split and went around the clearing on opposite sides. Tao began working on setting his strategic Charms while Raydor found and booby-trapped an escape route. When Tao finished, he pointed his wand at a tree a distance away and, after a quick incantation, over a dozen birds vacated the tree immediately. Raydor signaled the completion of her work by breaking a thick branch, causing it to snap loudly.

Upon hearing Sanchez howl, Tao and Raydor began poking in and out of the clearing, using the Mirror Charms to hide their true location. Their attackers could only guess what was reflection and what was an actual human. Before long, the hostiles were forced out of their trees to try to better engage Raydor and Tao. Sanchez, however, was waiting for them, and stunned two of them from his own tree before they noticed where he was.

While Sanchez hurried down his tree, Raydor and Tao engaged the two remaining foes in duels. Sanchez grabbed Buzz's bag, slung it onto his back, and whistled loudly before following the route Raydor had prepared. As predicted, the attackers gave chase, exposing their backs to Raydor and Tao periodically, though the curvy path and thick trees shielded them from most spells.

Sanchez passed the first trap and flung a spell at it. When the assailant right on his tail passed the spot, he was knocked flat on his back and quickly bound by Tao. Raydor stayed on the tail of the last remaining hostile while Sanchez continued running, concentrating on not getting his feet tangled in any roots.

Sanchez activated the second trap and did not stop to look back until he heard Raydor call him. He retraced his steps to find Raydor lazily waving her wand while various roots rose out of the ground to wind themselves around a man pinned to the ground.

"I'd say that went rather well," said Tao, catching up with his teammates. "We'd better get moving before the Stunners on the first two wear off, though."

"If you suggest running," Sanchez panted, "I'm going to punch you in the face."

Tao slapped his partner on the shoulder before looking at Raydor. "Alright, where are we meeting Provenza and Flynn?"

"Head east," said Raydor, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And we ran south a bit on the trail, so a slight angle north, too."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Yay Sykes! Happy holidays, and happy break for anyone in school! Breaks are awesome.

Be sure to let me know what you think of the story so far. :)


	6. Chapter 6

"You just barely made it!" said Flynn upon spotting his teammates coming through the trees. "Two minutes to spare."

"Did you get the bag?" Provenza asked.

Sanchez threw the bag down at Buzz's feet, then collapsed and laid with his knees bent and feet flat on the ground.

"This wasn't my idea," said Buzz defensively, snatching the bag. He dug through it until finding a tiny scroll, which he handed off to Raydor.

Raydor unfurled the scroll and promptly scoffed and looked skyward.

"What?" Flynn asked. "What crazy stunt has Moody – "

"Centaurs," said Tao, taking the scroll from Raydor. It had only a hoofprint on it. "Moody sent the team holding Morales into centaur territory."

"Is he _trying_ to get us killed?" Provenza asked, outraged.

"Andy, Julio, scout, please," Raydor sighed.

"Ever wonder how many interns Moody's lost over the years?" Sanchez asked as he and Flynn left.

"Shut up, Julio," said Flynn sourly.

"I think it'd be exciting to see centaurs," said Sykes after a moment of silence.

Provenza turned his head slowly to look at Sykes with furrowed brow and a dropped jaw. He looked back to Raydor. "Permission to accidentally lose Sykes?"

Raydor shook her head with a slightly amused expression. "If we come across any centaurs, Amy, _please_ keep quiet. I don't think you understand how dangerous they can be.

"Mike, please resume custody of Amy," Raydor continued. "Let's get going."

The team moved deeper and deeper into the forest, their anxiety growing as the trees thickened.

"Shh!" Raydor hissed after nearly forty-five minutes of hiking. Those trailing her silenced.

"You're insane, you know that?" said Flynn's voice ahead.

"I wouldn't say insane," said the voice of Morales. "Clever, sneaky, brilliant – those are words I'd use."

Raydor resumed pushing forward, taking care to draw her wand just in case things were not as well as they seemed. She soon spotted the mouth of a cave in which Morales was on his knees, examining a body on the ground. She rushed forward, thinking the body to be Sanchez.

"Is that - ?"

"It's not Sanchez," said Flynn quickly. "He's just gone to check to make sure no one's hiding nearby."

Raydor's shoulders relaxed significantly. "What's happened?" she asked, looking around and counting three bodies surrounding Morales.

"I got tired of playing the game," said Morales simply.

" _You_ took them out?" Provenza asked incredulously.

"I may not be a master dueler, but I've got my own tricks up my sleeve," said Morales. "See those leaves over there? They cause crippling nausea when consumed. I told my friends here I had to go to the bathroom, grabbed some of the leaves, ripped them up, and used them to spike a sandwich I had brought for myself. I came back, offered to share, and then, well, you can see the results. "

"I swear I'm going to kill you, Morales," moaned one of the lumps on the ground.

"Threatening me isn't going to help you feel better any faster," said Morales carelessly. He looked back to Raydor. "Anyway, once they were all incapacitated I figured it'd only be a matter of time before you made your way here, so I took their wands and I waited. You certainly moved at a leisurely pace. I can't tell you how much vomit I've cleaned up."

"Have you seen any centaurs recently?" Raydor asked, deciding to ignore Morales's slight.

"They're on their way now," said Sanchez, returning. "There's a creek just a bit west of here. I could hear some of them walking through it."

"Well, then," said Raydor smoothly. She crouched down by the groaning human that had threatened Morales. "We're running a little short on time, and I think you've got some information I need. Where can I find Andrea Hobbs?"

"Go to hell," the man responded.

"Hey!" Flynn barked. He began advancing, but his partner cut him off.

"Wrong answer," said Raydor. She had an overly calm quality to her voice that, her team had learned, meant whoever she was talking to was in serious trouble.

"Your buddy crossed a line," the man pointed out. "You find Hobbs on your own."

"Let's put this another way," said Raydor. "You are currently incapable of doing anything other than gripping your stomach or emptying its contents, rolling from side to side, and complaining. There are centaurs on their way as we speak. Now my team and I are leaving before the centaurs get here. What you have to ask yourself is this: Do I, an unarmed human, want to be found by centaurs in their territory, of which they have been _very_ protective, or do I want to be put safely in the cave just yards away?"

Faint hoof beats began to sound, forcing the man on the ground to think quickly.

"Fine!" he snapped. "Follow the creek for about a mile and a half, then start heading north. You'll run into them if you keep on that track."

"Very good," said Raydor with a smile. "Provenza, Mike, Julio, please help our friends into the cave. Quickly, now! Andy, please take their wands from Morales and put them in the cave, but out of immediate reach. We don't want any of them trying to be a hero."

The men hurriedly accomplished their tasks and the group raced away from the spot, choosing to follow the creek from a little bit of a distance, incase the centaurs continued down it. Flynn and Sanchez ran ahead to scout.

"How are we doing on time, Mike?" Raydor called over her shoulder. The trees had become so thick the team had been forced into a single file line.

"We're sitting at right about two hours left," Tao responded. "Considering how far we are into the forest, we're going to be cutting it close, regardless of when we find Hobbs."

"As was Moody's plan, I'm sure," said Provenza bitterly.

"We'll get to that when we get to it," said Raydor. "As long as we find Andrea within the specified time frame, maybe we can finagle our way out of getting completely smoked."

"Smoked?" Sykes asked.

"Worked to exhaustion," said Morales. "It's used in Muggle military training, though I'm sure there are different names for it."

"Moody makes us do pushups, wall sits, crunches, run ladders, that sort of thing," said Tao.

"All on a constant cycle until he believes we've learned our lesson," Provenza said with more than a twinge of sarcastic civility.

Conversation ceased as the terrain became yet more difficult to navigate. Several times the team had to stop altogether to help each other over one obstacle or another. After a significant period of time, Raydor spotted Flynn and Sanchez ahead and beckoned them back to her.

"Hobbs is leaving breadcrumbs," said Sanchez with a smirk. "She started chipping bark off trees about a half mile back."

"She's going to be pissed about her manicure," said Morales. "Someone's going to be paying for her to get another one. "

"Put it on Moody's tab," said Provenza.

"From here, there's a pretty straightforward path that Hobbs's detail probably followed back to the edge of the forest," said Sanchez. "We can swing out wide. If we hurry, we might be able to cut them off."

Raydor shook her head. "No, they wouldn't take Hobbs back to the edge. They might get her closer, I agree, but not straight there. They know we're running out of time, and they don't want us to win."

"Well let's think on the move, then, shall we?" Provenza suggested.

Raydor looked carefully at her surroundings in consideration. "Flynn, Provenza, if it were you trying to keep Hobbs from being found, where would you take her?"

"Why jump straight to us?" asked Flynn. "You think we think about things like that?"

"Who's got an illegal dog in their room?" Raydor asked with a raised brow.

"Hey!" snapped Provenza. "You promised you wouldn't say anything about Dodger!"

A few weeks into the semester, Flynn had found a stray dog near Raydor's house and snuck it back to his and Provenza's room. Provenza, despite his initial objection, became just as attached to the creature as Flynn and they had been hiding it ever since.

"You've got a dog?" asked Sykes.

"Alright, alright," said Flynn. "Point taken, Sharon. Thanks for turning us over to Sykes, here."

"Oh, I'll keep quiet," said Sykes. "For a price."

"You sure you're not supposed to be in Slytherin?" asked Flynn, looking down at Sykes with a curious expression.

"Andy, focus," said Raydor.

"Well, if I knew I was being followed, I would set up traps," said Flynn. "Slow my pursuers down. These guys have done that, I might add."

"I deactivated a few of those, already," said Sanchez.

"Very true," said Flynn. "Saved me from a very painful blow to the shins."

"Provenza?" Raydor asked.

"I am of the belief that the best place to hide something is out in the open," said Provenza.

"That's not really an option out here," said Raydor.

"Actually, it is," said Tao. "If it were me trying to move Hobbs around, I'd be a little suspicious of her stopping to rip bark off trees. So how's she getting away with it?" he asked with an expectant expression.

"Camouflage," Raydor breathed. "If we want to find Andrea, we're _have_ to walk into the ambush that is no doubt waiting for us. There's no way around it if we want to meet our deadline."

"Wonderful," said Flynn dully.

"Onward to glory, then?" asked Provenza, gesturing north.

"Onward," Raydor confirmed, sighing unhappily. "No more scouting. We're staying together. I want a ring around our witnesses. I'll lead. Flynn, take my left, Provenza, my right. Mike and Julio, bring up the rear. At the first sign of trouble, you two drop back with the witnesses and _get them out_. Grab Hobbs, too. She'll be around. The rest of us will buy you time."

The team arranged itself according to Raydor's direction, then continued forward. They were able to keep formation better as they continued onward and the trees began to thin out.

After half an hour of silence, spells started shooting out of, what seemed to be, the trees themselves.

"Mike, Julio!" Raydor shouted as she reflected a spell. "Move, now!"

Tao and Sanchez shoved Buzz, Morales, and Sykes out of the way of the action, then placed themselves between their charges and the fight. The split group took off at full speed. Once mostly clear of the action, Sanchez doubled back in search of Hobbs, though he took advantage of his not being noticed to Stun an attacker to even the odds for his team, leaving three pairs of duelers.

"Hobbs!" Sanchez shouted over the noises of the duels. "Hobbs! Where are you?"

"Julio! Little help!" called Hobbs.

"Keep talking!" Sanchez ordered, beginning to follow the voice as best as he could while avoiding any flying spells. He soon found a tree that was blinking. He quickly severed the vines binding a well-camouflaged Hobbs to the tree and the pair ran as fast as they could to meet up with Tao and the other hostages. "Is that a leaf poking out of your shoulder?"

"Shut up!" Hobbs snapped.

Moody had made sure to put the most capable duelers in charge of Hobbs, it seemed, and Raydor hated him for it. She was tired, hungry, her shoes were caked with mud, and her arms and face were peppered with scratches from branches.

"Is that really all you've got?" asked Raydor's opponent, a woman about her size.

Raydor forced herself to let the comment roll off her back. If she allowed her opponent to get into her mind, the duel was as good as lost. She risked slight glances to her left and right to check on her team. Sanchez and Tao had cleared the area with all the hostages. Flynn and Provenza were holding their own, but both were losing steam as quickly as she was.

As Raydor fired spell after spell as quickly as she could, she noticed her opponent favoring her left leg slightly. Raydor smirked. With a slice of her wand, she sent a small rock flying into her opponent's ankle. In the split second it took the woman to recover from the shock to her already weakened leg, Raydor disarmed her.

"On your knees!" Raydor demanded, wand pointed straight between her opponent's eyes.

Grudgingly, slowly, Raydor's opponent lowered to her knees. She did not put up a fight as her hands were bound and followed directions when told to sit against a tree with her legs crossed.

Raydor pocketed the extra wand she had collected before assisting her teammates. Hardly a minute passed before both remaining hostiles were contained.

Flynn and Provenza saw to it that all attackers were bound properly, then headed off with Raydor to meet up with the rest of their team and those they had rescued.

"You did it!" Sykes exclaimed upon spotting the battle-weary interns hiking up a hill toward her group.

"Mike, time?" asked Raydor through deep breaths.

"Less than an hour," said Tao hesitantly.

"Damn it!" burst Flynn.

"Well, then, we'll be late," said Raydor, wiping her forehead. "Provenza, you're bleeding."

"Let me bleed," said Provenza. "If I loose enough blood, I'll pass out and I won't have to run any damn ladders."

"Fascinating, blood is," said Morales, observing the gash on Provenza's upper arm. "Sharks, as I'm sure you know, often find prey because of blood, but they're not the only creatures attracted by it. Excuse me, Provenza, I'm going to need to borrow this."

"Hey!" Provenza objected as Morales ripped off his shirtsleeve and began walking away with it. Morales ignored the censure and tied the sleeve to a nearby branch.

"Hooves," said Tao, pointing to the ground.

"Centaurs wouldn't be out this far," said Flynn.

"No," said Raydor, realization lighting up her face, "but thestrals might be!"

"Thestrals?" asked Hobbs. "Those creepy bat-horse things that are invisible to most people?"

"Yes, Andrea," said Raydor, running her wand slowly over her hand, "the creepy bat-horses." She pulled her wand away to reveal a self-inflicted wound on the palm of her hand that was generously leaking blood. She then went over to a tree and smeared her blood on its trunk.

"Thestrals are incredibly intelligent," Tao explained, "and they can fly."

"Are you saying you want me to get on an animal that I can't see and then rocket into the sky?" asked Hobbs incredulously. "Are you out of your mind?"

Raydor massaged her arm to encourage more blood to gush out of her hand, then defaced another tree. "Our options are kind of slim at this point, Andrea. Who knows what Moody's got in mind for us if we don't show back up by noon? If this can get us back on time, we're doing it."

"Alright, that's enough, Raydor," said Morales after she attacked a third tree. He cleaned her wound with his wand, then set to work mending the skin.

Flynn walked over to Provenza and tightly grasped his partner's arm over the gushing wound.

"Flynn, what the hell?" Provenza growled upon being released.

"You said you wanted to keep bleeding," said Flynn, wiping the blood off his hand on yet another tree. "Might as well put the blood to use."

Sanchez pulled out his wand and copied his team lead's actions, slicing open his skin and wiping his blood on tree trunks. After three trees, he stopped, then waited for Morales to tend to Provenza before allowing himself to be treated.

"And now we wait," said Tao.

"My God, I didn't realize how crazy you all are," said Hobbs. Her eyes widened in horror. "I'm one of you! Oh my God, I'm officially associated with a bunch of loons!"

"Pipe down, Hobbs," said Provenza irritably.

"Look!" said Buzz excitedly, pointing into the forest.

Raydor turned to allow her gaze to follow Buzz's finger and smiled at the sight of the skeletal horse making its way over. It stopped at a bloodied tree and began to lick the bark. Raydor approached slowly before running her hand over the creature's head. She had only ever seen drawings of the animal before, having just recently witnessed a human dying. Though she had heard many describe thestrals as ugly and malformed, she decided them to be beautiful in their own right.

Within ten minutes, six thestrals had gathered.

"Andrea, you'll ride with Provenza," said Raydor, stroking the neck of the thestral still licking her blood off a tree.

"Ride what?" asked Hobbs. "Looks like you're just petting the air, to me!"

"Just do what I tell you," said Provenza shortly. It was with great difficulty that he worked to get Hobbs onto a thestral.

"Amy, Julio will take care of you," said Raydor. "Morales – "

"Oh, I can handle my own," said Morales, hopping effortlessly onto the back of a thestral. "Little known fact: my grandparents live on a ranch."

"Buzz, with Mike, please. Andy, you and I are taking point and making sure we find a clear route. I'm willing to bet that Moody's arranged a greeting party for us," said Raydor.

"Ma'am," said Sanchez, "if we were to Disillusion ourselves, we probably wouldn't be able to be seen by a good portion of that welcoming party, and even those that can see thestrals wouldn't see us."

"We'd be invisible to each other, as well," Raydor pointed out. "I want to be able to signal nonverbally, if necessary. Disillusion our rescues only. Don't lose us, Morales."

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Morales. With a wave of his wand, he was gone to all that did not know where to look.

Provenza, Sanchez, and Tao took care of their charges before the entire group took to the sky.

"I just want to say for the record that I _really_ do not like this!" said Hobbs's voice.

"Really?" said Provenza smartly. "I couldn't tell from the vice-like grip you're holding over my kidneys!"

Raydor rolled her eyes and encouraged her steed toward the forest line, which was fast approaching.

"There they are!" said Flynn, pointing to the ground near the tree line. "Looks like almost everyone we met through the day is waiting for us."

"Let's hope they don't look up," said Raydor. She steered her thestral higher and into some low lying clouds before making a wide berth of the gathered crowd on the ground.

Tao appeared on Raydor's left. "We can swing around and approach the spot Moody indicated from behind, but we need to do it quickly! If we're not on the ground in five minutes, we're toast!"

"Got it," said Raydor, and she urged her thestral to move faster. She glanced at the ground behind her and was pleased to see that the welcoming committee had not spotted her team. They were instead keenly scanning the trees, waiting for signs of someone emerging.

The group successfully navigated to approach from behind. With a joyful smile, Raydor started the descent. The team dismounted as the clock struck twelve.

"Mr. Moody," Raydor politely greeted as the man limped over. "We've gathered our colleagues, as ordered. I'm happy to report there were no casualties on our side, and we returned by noon, as requested."

Moody's normal and magical eye, for once, moved in sync as he looked the team over. "Well done," he said grudgingly. "You're done for the day. Go home." He headed off without another word to go dismiss his assistants.

"What just – "

"Shh!" Raydor demanded shortly, cutting Flynn off. "This might be a test." She barely breathed as she observed Moody. She failed to even flinch as her thestral began nibbling at her sleeve. It wasn't until Moody actually sent his assistants away that she turned back to her team with disbelief etched clearly into her face. "We're done," she breathed. "He's really letting us be done for the day!"

"We better get going before he changes his mind!" said Provenza. "This deserves a good, stiff drink!"

"Amen to that!" said Tao.

"Your house, Sharon?" Flynn asked.

Raydor grinned. "Yes, I think so. I intend on having a lunch made entirely of desserts."

The team, plus their associates, and even Sykes, all headed to Raydor's to celebrate the high praise of early release given by the great Alastor Moody.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Happy New Year! I have to say that I particularly enjoyed writing the scene of finding Morales. It just seemed like exactly the kind of thing he would do. :)

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in a review.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanksgiving rolled around and the team, plus their associates, had gathered at Raydor's house. Per Moody's orders, they were on call and not permitted to go home to celebrate with their families. Much to Provenza's chagrin, Raydor had invited Sykes to her house, as well, as the girl had said her family was out of the country for the holiday.

"This pie might actually be better than the cake you made for Ricky's birthday," said Hobbs. She had volunteered to help Raydor in the kitchen. By help, she mostly meant taste test the day's dishes.

"Andrea, quit sticking your fingers in the food!" Raydor said exasperatedly. "You're worse than Emily, you know that?"

"I smoothed the top of it over," said Hobbs. "No one will ever know."

"Are you going to actually be of assistance?" Raydor asked. "Mike and Julio are going to be here any minute to start on potatoes and stuffing, and Andy and Provenza are going to have to check the turkey soon."

Hobbs hopped off the counter on which she had perched and began chopping carrots. "I've got a proposition for you," said she.

"Does it involve my blue scraper?" asked Raydor, pulling open a drawer. "I can't find it."

"I used it to get out all the filling for the pumpkin pie," said Hobbs. "It's in the sink."

Raydor fished out her scraper and washed it quickly.

"Anyway, I've been thinking about next semester. Once it's done, I'll be shifted to full time employment with the government, so I won't be able to live on Hogwarts grounds anymore," said Hobbs.

"I suppose that'd be a little strange if you did," said Raydor absentmindedly as she continued bustling about.

"I've thought about it, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a rough transition for me," said Hobbs. "I mean, my life's revolved around Hogwarts since I was fourteen. That's eight years, more than a third of my life."

"That is a significant period of time," Raydor conceded.

"So I thought that it might be a good idea for me to separate from the school in stages," said Hobbs. She set her knife down and inhaled carefully. "Sharon, I was hoping I might be able to move into the extra room you've got upstairs during winter break."

Raydor very nearly dropped the bowl in her hands. She quickly set it aside before asking, "What?"

"Well, I mean, I spend so much time over here, anyway," said Hobbs quickly. "I might as well pay rent. With my share, maybe you'd be able to drop the morning stocking jobs and actually sleep every now and then. Plus, then you'd have a built in babysitter."

"Andrea, I don't think you know what you're asking," said Raydor.

"I've been accused of a lot of things, Sharon, but short-term thinking is not one of them," said Hobbs. "Look, I'm not going to force the issue, I just would appreciate you thinking about it. I think it's a good deal for the both of us."

"I – I'll do that," said Raydor. "But if I find myself agreeing with you, we're going to have to sit down and talk about something really big, first."

"That's fair," said Hobbs. She smiled, then resumed cutting carrots.

Raydor looked around blankly for a moment before recomposing herself and resuming preparations for dinner.

The front door opened and shut.

"Jul-lo!" exclaimed Ricky. "Plane! Plane!"

"I gotta do some stuff in the kitchen, buddy," said Sanchez to Ricky, who was standing in the way with his arms outstretched. "After dinner, okay?"

"Come here, Ricky," said Flynn. "I may not be as good as Julio, but I can be of some use." He hoisted the boy over his shoulder so Ricky hung upside down, back to back with Flynn. "Hey, where'd the kid go? Provenza, you seen Ricky?"

Ricky giggled gleefully as Flynn pretended to have no idea where he was.

"Ah, Mike, Julio!" Raydor greeted with a smile as the two men entered her kitchen with grocery bags. "Andrea and I will be out of the way in just a second."

"Not a problem," said Tao. "We'll just start peeling potatoes over here."

Before long, Raydor and Hobbs finished up the last of their items and headed into the living room. Flynn was tickling Ricky mercilessly. Morales was trying to teach Emily the names of her bones, though she was far more interested in trying to get into his bag to play with his equipment. Sykes had roped Provenza into playing a card game. Judging by the latter's grimace, Sykes was winning.

Raydor collapsed onto one of her mismatched couches, completely content. Chaotic as her house currently was, she enjoyed it thoroughly and would not wish its end for the world.

* * *

"What's with Andrea?" Raydor asked Tao quietly as she sat next to him at lunch. Hobbs was completely wrapped up in a newspaper, oblivious to the world around her.

"No idea," Tao answered at a normal volume. "She nearly ran over a group of freshmen on her way in here, she's so focused on that paper."

Sanchez, sat next to Hobbs, leaned over until he was reading over her shoulder. "Who's Bella Isaiah?" he asked.

"Judge Isaiah," said Raydor. "You don't know who she is? She's been in the papers for weeks now. Something to do with the debates about switching to using Muggle money. She's been fighting to keep with it, rather than disintegrate the markets again."

"She's not going to be doing anything now," said Sanchez. "Article here says she killed herself last night."

Hobbs folded up the paper and dropped it on the floor by her side before slumping in her chair.

"I'm sorry, Andrea," said Raydor gently. "I know you did some studying with Judge Isaiah. Are you okay?"

Hobbs sighed before putting two fingers and a thumb to her temple. "It doesn't sit right with me," she admitted. "I just did a case review with her two weeks ago. She was fine! She kept asking me what I thought of some gifts she'd picked out for her nieces for Christmas, and she seemed like she _really_ wanted to give them to the kids in person."

"Maybe she was depressed, or bipolar or something," Tao suggested. "Who can really say why she did what she did?"

"If you're that concerned about it, Andrea, see if Morales can look at the file on Judge Isaiah's death," said Raydor. "He'll give you an honest opinion."

Hobbs exhaled heavily again. "No, I should just let it go. Isaiah's death was ruled a suicide by professionals and that's that."

Provenza and Flynn arrived soon after Hobbs's resignation to regale their friends with tales of a prank some adventurous seniors had pulled on Snape. Judge Isaiah's unfortunate demise was forgotten.

* * *

The season of finals had arrived, and it was a disaster. Raydor, Provenza, Flynn, Sanchez, Tao, Hobbs, Buzz, and Morales were all gathered in Raydor's living room on a Wednesday evening. Buzz spent his time tinkering with a few different gadgets while everyone else was feverishly grading papers and neglecting their own looming assignments.

"Oops," said Tao, a vial of some purple, fizzing potion in his hand. He quickly recorked it.

"Mike, if you stain my carpet…" said Raydor dangerously.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Tao. "The 'oops' was for the student, not me. This sample's a mess."

"Just so long as the mess doesn't spread to the floor," said Raydor.

"No!" Morales suddenly exclaimed, aggressively inking a paper. "No, no, no, no! Would someone please tell me why it is so difficult for these freshmen to remember the difference between cell walls and cell membranes? If they can't remember this, how are they supposed to understand the intricacies of advanced Transfiguration down the road?"

"Maybe I can explain your problem if you can tell me how this kid managed to mess up this transfiguration so completely," said Flynn, holding up what was supposed to be a pillow. It instead looked like a colorful, misshapen rock.

"My government students are doing okay," said Hobbs, marking something. "Oh, scratch that," she corrected. " _That's_ definitely not in the Third Amendment."

"Were we this dumb?" asked Provenza, tossing a paper over his shoulder.

"Maybe not all of us," Sanchez teased. "Hobbs, can you throw me another pen?"

"Someone better find a perfect assignment soon," said Hobbs, lobbing a pen across the room to Sanchez. "I'm going to pass out if I don't get something to eat in the next half hour."

"I can just go get the pizza," Buzz volunteered. "I don't have anything to grade, and I'm _really_ hungry."

There was a collective groan as the offer was rejected. To motivate themselves to move quickly, the group agreed to break for dinner only after they had found ten perfect assignments. They had been stuck at nine for more than twenty minutes.

"Wait!" Raydor exclaimed. Her eyes zoomed back and forth as she double-checked the paper in her hands. "I've got it! I've got the last perfect paper!"

"Thank God!" said Provenza, quickly abandoning his grading. "Who's going with me to go pick up pizza?"

Provenza soon left with Flynn, Tao, Buzz, and Morales, all of whom were eager to stretch their legs.

"Emily, Ricky! You can come downstairs for a bit now," Raydor called upstairs. For the sake of everyone's sanity, she had instructed her children to remain in their rooms while grading was going on.

Tiny feet thumped down the stairs an instant later.

"Careful!" Raydor cautioned. "Don't step on any of the papers!" She began hustling about, collecting and stacking all the scattered papers and setting them on the coffee table, sorted by subject.

"There are days that I dread graduating," said Hobbs, flopping onto a couch, "and then there are days like today."

"Andrea!" said Emily, her face suddenly only an inch from Hobbs's. "You have to come see the castle I made!"

"Is it upstairs?" Hobbs asked, fearing the answer.

"Of course it is, silly," said Emily. "It's in my room!"

"Emily, Andrea's very tired," said Raydor patiently. "She'll go look at the castle some other time.

"You know what, Emily?" said Hobbs before the girl could start to pout. "We can play the dead game!"

Emily clapped excitedly and readily accepted the proposition, causing Hobbs to sigh in relief. Hobbs had invented the game one particular evening she had come to babysit and been bone-tired. In an effort to entertain the kids while maintaining a horizontal position, she had bet she could play dead better than either of them. All she had to do was lay there with her eyes closed, not react as the kids attempted to tickle her, and try not to fall asleep. In Hobbs's opinion, the dead game was one of the brightest ideas she had ever had in her life.

As Emily began picking up and dropping Hobb's arms and legs, poking her face, and trying to tickle her feet, Sanchez entertained Ricky simply by walking around with the boy on his shoulders.

Raydor smiled fondly at her children, then went into the kitchen to gather plates. Her mood lowered somewhat when the doorbell rang. She went to heed its summons, hoping and praying Moody was not on the other side of the door to ruin her evening.

"Hey, Sharon."

Raydor froze with her hand on her door as she stared at the man that had rung her bell. She suddenly found herself wishing it _was_ Moody on her doorstep. "Jack," she said tightly, then stepped outside and shut the door soundly. "What are you doing here?"

"Is it so wrong for me to stop by to see my wife and children?" Jack asked with a charming smile.

"You've had months to do that, Jack," said Raydor. "I believe I am perfectly justified to be skeptical of you showing up 'to see your family' for only the third time in the year and a half since we separated!"

"You're angry, I get it," said Jack in an effort to placate the irate woman before him.

"Damn right, I'm angry," said Raydor dangerously. "When was your last drink?"

"Sharon – "

"When, Jack?" she insisted. "I told you that you would not step foot in my house when the children are present unless you've been sober for three days straight. When did you last drink?" Raydor asked again, enunciating very clearly.

"Alright, I was out last night," Jack admitted. "But I brought money!" he said before his wife could retreat back into the house.

"Really? Is it enough to make up for the eighteen months that you haven't paid child support?" asked Raydor sharply. "Or enough to cover the half of _your_ debt I was saddled with when we separated?"

"Look," said Jack, anger creeping into his voice. "I just want to talk for a few minutes."

Raydor considered for a moment. "Fine," she said finally, "but you're not coming in here while Emily and Ricky are inside. Step off the property."

"Sharon, this is rid – "

"Step off my property," Raydor insisted.

Jack put his hands in the air in surrender and moved back to the sidewalk.

Raydor went back inside and simply stood with her back against the door for a moment.

"Everything okay?" asked Sanchez, poking his head around the wall.

"Fine, Julio," said Raydor lightly, very much aware that Sanchez's temper was likely to break entirely if she told him what she was really thinking. "Would you mind taking Emily and Ricky on a walk for a few minutes?"

"I can do that," said Sanchez. He turned and headed back to the living room. "Hey, Emily, Ricky, put your shoes on. We're going outside for a bit."

The two children hurried upstairs and made quite a lot of noise as they sought out their shoes.

"Sharon, what's happening?" Hobbs asked with furrowed brow.

"Um," said Raydor uncomfortably. She glanced up the stairs before quickly saying, "Jack, my husband, is outside."

"Now?" asked Sanchez. "We've never seen him and he just shows up out of the blue _now_?"

"Yes, and I intend to figure out why," said Raydor, hitching a smile onto her face as she heard doors close upstairs, "but I'm not going to discuss it in front of my children, which is why I'd like you to take them outside."

Emily and Ricky made their way downstairs and each grabbed one of Sanchez's hands before pulling him toward the door.

"We won't go far, if you need me," said Sanchez before giving in to the tugs on his arm. "Back door, you little monsters!"

"Do you want me to go upstairs?" Hobbs asked uncomfortably. "Or with Julio?"

"No, Andrea, I would actually like you to stay, if you could," said Raydor. She opened her front door and gestured for Jack to come in. "I need someone to keep me from harming him, and this will probably eliminate the need to have a discussion informing you what you'd be walking into if you moved into that last room upstairs."

"Alright," said Jack, coming through the front door. "I've – Who's this?"

"This is my friend Andrea," said Raydor. "Please continue, Jack." She closed her door and then went to the living room and sat herself on one of the couches. Hobbs sat hesitantly beside her, and Jack took a spot on the couch across the room.

"Before we start," said Jack, digging into his pocket. He produced a wad of cash and set it on the coffee table situated between himself and his wife.

Raydor looked at the money, clearly unimpressed, and then back at her husband. "So you're trying to bribe me now, is that it?"

"No!" said Jack. "Look, I know I owe you money, so – "

"Oh, you owe me a lot more than just money, Jack, and that pittance doesn't even make a _dent_ in the debt you've left me with," said Raydor.

"You don't think I know what you're dealing with?" asked Jack. "That debt was split evenly between us, you know. I've got the same problems!"

"Don't try to play that game with me, Jack. I've been supporting our children, by myself, for over a year and a half without so much as a dime of help from you, all while trying to satisfy the _very_ angry creditors looking to settle scores," said Raydor. "Tell me, Jack, how much more money have you lost at the gambling tables?"

"I'm on a lucky streak right now, actually," said Jack proudly. "That's where that money came from, and that's why I'm here. I – "

"You thought you'd press your luck and gamble with the chances that I'd let you move back in," said Raydor, clicking her nails in irritation.

"Can I finish a sentence?" asked Jack irritably. "Please?"

Raydor gestured for Jack to continue, then leaned back into her couch with her arms crossed.

"I hit it big at a table last week," said Jack. "With the winnings, I thought I'd treat you and the kids with a Christmas trip! What do you think?" The smile on his face indicated that he expected his wife to leap at the opportunity.

Raydor shook her head and sucked in her cheeks slightly as she considered her response. "I don't need a trip, and neither do Emily and Ricky," she said after watching Jack's smile falter. "I need a husband that can _help_ with children and the house, rather than add to problems. Emily and Ricky need a father that can lead by _good_ example and support them emotionally and financially."

"I can do that," said Jack eagerly. "Sharon, I can do that! I've changed since we separated, I have."

"Is that why there is a flask in the pocket of your jacket?" asked Raydor shrewdly.

"Well, every now and then – "

"Three days completely sober," said Raydor. "That was what we agreed on. You're not seeing the kids until you can prove to me that you are capable of choosing them over your liquor."

"Look, lots of guys drink," said Jack, trying to brush the issue off.

"Not to the point of vomiting in their son's crib or hiding bottles in their daughter's toy chest," said Raydor with a savage evenness to her voice. "Not to the point going to give their wife a hug and managing to send her tumbling down the stairs, instead. You are _not_ staying here until you can prove to me that you can handle yourself."

"I never pushed you down the stairs," Jack argued.

"You did," said Raydor. "You just don't remember, but I do. I also remember covering for you and lying when people asked why I was limping, what happened to my face. My healing skills weren't as good back then. With each 'accident', they improved. I'm rather good at healing spells now, thanks to you and your drunkenness. None of it was ever on purpose, sure, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened."

"I'm sorry," said Jack, sounding rather sincere. "I never meant to hurt you, you know that! If I had known – "

"Don't give me that crap, Jack, you knew exactly what you were doing every time you woke up and saw me with a new injury!" Raydor snapped, her calm voice finally spent. "You should just count yourself as lucky that I kept you from getting at Emily and Ricky when you were like that, or I _would have_ killed you!"

Jack slammed his hand on the coffee table and went to his feet. "I never would have laid a hand on my children!" he shouted.

"Mostly because you were never around when they were awake!" Raydor yelled back, also rising to her feet. "I've kept you updated on where we've been, Jack, but you could never be bothered to stop by to spend time with them, could you?"

"How could I spend time with my kids when you won't let me?" Jack raged.

"I am more than willing to let our children interact with their father!" Raydor shrieked. "I'm just not willing to let them be torn apart by his leaving them again! You've got _no_ idea what I dealt with when you moved to Vegas! Do you know that Emily cried for you _every night_ for a month straight? Even though you couldn't ever be bothered to tell her the time of day, she cried for you!"

"I went to Vegas to settle my debts!" Jack argued.

"Oh, sure!" Raydor scoffed. "And how's that going? Have you been gambling away all your grocery money, like you did when we lived together?" she asked cruelly.

Jack picked up the cash on the table and threw it at his wife, who remained unphased. "See that, Sharon?" he snarled. "There's your grocery money! That's winning!"

"And how much did winning cost you, Jack? How many paychecks did you exchange for chips before you finally had something to go home with?"

"Why can't you just be thankful for what I've brought you?" Jack asked viciously.

Raydor looked as though the gears in her head had jammed and she lowered herself back to the couch slowly. "Thankful?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, thankful!" said Jack. "Would that kill you?"

"Thankful for a wad of cash that you brought along to ease your guilt?" Raydor asked. "Jack, I will _never_ be thankful for anything you bring back from gambling! It's because of your gambling and drinking that we're in this mess!"

Jack rolled his eyes and started pacing as tears began to roll down his wife's face.

"I want Emily and Ricky to have their father, Jack," said Raydor thickly, "but that has to be the man I fell in love with, not the man you are now."

"It's you that drove me to turn into this, you know," said Jack savagely.

"Get out," snarled Raydor, back on her feet in an instant. "Get out of my house right now, Jackson Raydor!"

"What, you going to make me?" asked Jack mockingly.

"Sharon?" asked the concerned voice of Flynn. "Sharon, you okay?"

Flynn appeared in the living room with Sanchez. They glanced briefly at Hobbs, who shook her head stiffly with wide eyes.

"What's this, your boyfriend and gardener?" Jack sneered.

"Jack, I'm not going to ask you again," said Raydor dangerously.

"Hey," said Sanchez, his eyes darker than normal, "the lady asked you to leave."

Jack looked around, calculated his odds, snatched up a few bills within his reach, and stomped out of the house.

"Where are Emily and Ricky?" Raydor asked Sanchez the second the door had shut.

"Outside with Provenza, Tao, Morales, Buzz, and the pizza," Sanchez answered readily.

Raydor sighed in relief. "Um," she said unsteadily. "Everyone can come back in. Start eating without me. I'll be down in a bit." She turned and hurried upstairs. Her bedroom door slammed shut a moment later.

Sanchez grabbed his wand and headed for the front door.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Hobbs objected. "No felonies, Julio!"

"You think I can just watch _that_ guy walk away?" Sanchez snarled.

"You've got to," said Hobbs. "Andy, get your wand hand out of your pocket! I don't like him either, to say the least, but we are _not_ going to make Sharon's life any more difficult! Now get everyone else inside and let's pretend everything's normal until the kids are asleep, at least!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

What kind of Major Crimes fic would this be without an annoying-as-hell Jack?

Share your thoughts with me; review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

Raydor remained up in her room until it was time for Emily and Ricky to go to bed. She came downstairs to see Emily pretending to fly while Flynn held her up with his feet, and Ricky cuddling with Tao, who was reading him a book.

"Alright, Emily, Ricky, it's time to say goodnight," she said with a smile that did not quite reach her red-rimmed eyes.

"Five more minutes!" Emily begged.

"No, now," Raydor insisted. She made her way to Tao and extracted Ricky from his arms before holding her hand out for Emily.

"I can't wait to be a big girl without a bedtime," Emily pouted, taking her mother's hand and allowing herself to be guided upstairs.

"Alright, Hobbs, what happened?" Provenza asked quietly after hearing the bathroom door close.

"I really don't think it's my place to tell," said Hobbs, suddenly incredibly uncomfortable.

"We're not asking to nose around," said Flynn.

"We're worried," said Tao.

Hobbs wrung her hands. "Well, I mean, you _had_ to have heard some of the shouting. That should give you enough of an idea."

"We know where he's staying?" asked Sanchez to the room at large.

" _No felonies, Julio_ ," Hobbs said emphatically.

"I can help make it look like an accident," Morales volunteered.

"No," Hobbs insisted.

"You can't expect us to just sit here and wait for him to come back!" Provenza objected.

"I can put a tracking device on him," said Buzz. "We could set it to be a trigger for a perimeter around the house and -

"She's not afraid of him," said Hobbs. "If she were, do you think she would have had a shouting match with him?"

The friends continued bickering and failed to notice Raydor slip back downstairs a few minutes later.

"That's enough," said Raydor without raising her voice. Once everyone's attention was on her, she took her time settling herself on the arm of one of her couches. "I think I owe all of you a long overdue explanation."

"You don't owe us a damn thing," said Flynn.

"But I do," said Raydor with a weak smile. She inhaled and drew herself up straighter. "When I was sixteen I fell in love with Jack, who was almost twenty at the time. After just a few months I asked my parents if they'd sign off to let me marry early, but they wouldn't. So, when I turned seventeen, Jack and I got married and I moved out of my parents' house. We only exchanged Christmas cards for a long time after that. I'm still trying to patch things up.

"Things were pretty good at the beginning," Raydor continued, smiling at the memory. "Jack was in a program where we lived in Indiana to become qualified as a lawyer. The plan was for me to work after graduation until he was done, then he'd work while I sought out my own certification. But just a few months before I graduated, I got pregnant with Emily."

Raydor paused and swallowed, her smile having greatly weakened. "Emily was just about a year old when Jack finished his program. He got his first real paycheck, and that's when things started to change. He, uh, he started drinking with some guys after work to blow off steam. As he got used to having some money, he and the guys started trying a little bit of gambling, too. It wasn't a big deal at the time. He was gone a little bit more, but I wasn't worried about anything.

"When I got pregnant with Ricky, things started to escalate," Raydor said after sighing heavily. She began plucking at some loose thread on the couch. "Jack started coming home later and louder. I stopped keeping alcohol in the house, and I got rid of anything he brought home, but it didn't stop him. I didn't even know how bad the gambling had gotten until I went to the bank to get money to cover the co-pay for one of my appointments. The teller told me there was nothing in the account." Raydor gave a humorless laugh. "I must have looked ridiculous, insisting there'd been a mistake somewhere.

"I asked Jack about it, and he told me he'd been working the tables trying to make his paychecks go a little further so we could start putting money away for the kids to have when they were older," Raydor continued. "I guess that's where he was when I went into labor – working the tables."

"The scumbag skipped out on the chance to be at his own son's birth?" Flynn burst.

"Please don't interrupt me, Andy," said Raydor with a soft smile. "This is hard enough without your commentary.

"Jack came completely unglued after Ricky came home," said Raydor. "There were some nights he just didn't come home, probably because he couldn't remember where he lived. Twice more I went to the bank to be told the account was empty, so I confronted Jack again. My timing could have been better, I suppose. He was drunk out of his mind, and that was the first time – " Raydor paused to wipe her eyes quickly, " – the first time he took a swing at me.

"I started taking money out of Jack's wallet after he'd fallen asleep so that I could get food for the kids, but that well dried up before long, too," said Raydor, plowing on before her friends could verbalize their thoughts. "There were a couple of times that I asked the neighbors to help. I had been fighting it for a while, but I couldn't make any more excuses. I couldn't provide for the children with Jack's habits.

"I found a non-profit daycare center near the house. A lot of people trying to get back on their feet took their kids there." Raydor sounded disgusted with herself as she went on, "I hated leaving them there every morning, but I knew it was temporary. I started applying for jobs. I knew I had to be paid in cash, otherwise Jack would find out and I would lose the money. So I took jobs at two restaurants and worked out my schedule so I had a shift or two every weekday.

"The checks I burned. They were small, anyway," said Raydor, "but I saved the tips. Jack didn't even know I was working until we separated. Every penny, except for what I used for food, I tucked safely away for more than a year. It would have been longer, but the stars aligned a bit. After my 'nagging' him for a considerable period of time about making time for the kids and spending money more carefully, Jack decided he'd had enough. He packed a bag and left. Said he didn't know when he'd be back. One of my regulars at the restaurants was a lawyer and offered to help me with separation proceedings, pro bono. When it was over, I had full custody of the kids, which was all I really cared about. Jack and I each absorbed half the debt he had racked up and got it put onto our own separate accounts. I've been chipping away at the debt since.

"I wanted to continue my education, but I also needed to get paid. I kept working as a waitress, then as a secretary, saving everything I could and studying independently with every spare moment. Jack had ruined any chance I might have had of getting into programs where we lived, so I started looking elsewhere. Since I was getting my life together, my parents offered to pay for me to move out here. I applied for paid internships with the government every chance I got and, finally, I was picked by Internal Affairs. It wasn't exactly the job I wanted, but it was better than nothing. I kept studying, though now I was able to get help from professionals, so I made progress a lot faster. After the whole thing with Johnson, I saw an opportunity and I went for it."

Raydor stopped to wipe more tears from her face. "I have been happier these past few months than I have been in over six years," she said with a twitchy smile. "That's thanks to all of you. Emily and Ricky have people they can look up to, and I've got people I can trust to look over them while I'm at work. They're getting to be children, which is all I've wanted for them. So thank you, very much, all of you."

Stunned silence settled while tears rolled down Raydor's face and she continued to try to smile for her friends.

"You, Ma'am, are the most badass person I know," said Sanchez.

Raydor gave a true laugh and her smile brightened. "There are a lot of people in the world, Julio. You'll find someone more impressive, I'm sure."

"Holy hell," Flynn breathed. "Thank God for you, Provenza, or I could have ended up like that sack of – "

"Don't go getting all sappy on me, Flynn," said Provenza reproachfully. "It's disgraceful."

Flynn sat up from his spot on the floor where he had been leaning back on his elbows to address the curious expressions on some of his friends' faces. "First year I was in training to be an Auror hit me hard," he said. "I started drinking to try to deal, and it got out of hand. I almost lost my position. Provenza covered for me and hounded me until I got involved with a Magical chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and I straightened out. I haven't had a drink since. I carry my two-year chip with me everywhere. I'll get three soon."

"Don't look at me like that," said Provenza defensively as eyes started turning to him. "I was covering my ass just as much as Flynn's! He's my partner. I wasn't going down with him."

"Say whatever you want," said Flynn with an annoying smile. "The secret's out, now. You care, just a little bit."

"So, why don't you just divorce him?" asked Buzz quickly, before Provenza could respond to Flynn's teasing. "File a restraining order?"

"How could I divorce Provenza?" asked Flynn with an annoying grin. "He hasn't even asked me to marry him yet!"

"Flynn, I swear, if you say one more stupid thing, I'm going to leap off this couch and break your annoyingly white teeth," Provenza growled.

Raydor laughed again before answering Buzz. "I've thought about it a lot," she admitted. "I decided a long time ago, though, that I wasn't going to do what Jack did. I wasn't going to put myself before my children. Jack is an alcoholic and a gambling addict and just about the worst husband a woman could ask for, but he's their father. If he can prove he's up to the responsibility, I won't stop him from fulfilling that role."

"Fat chance of that," Morales scoffed.

"Hey, listen, Sharon," said Flynn. "Provenza and I are gonna bunk on your couches for a couple of nights, try this living together thing out, see where it goes."

"We're already roommates, genius!" Provenza snapped. "Couches, yes, fine, but you quit it with this other crap!"

"I appreciate the consideration, Andy, Provenza, but really – " Raydor started.

"I'm sorry, did we give the impression we were asking?" said Provenza. He stretched himself out on the couch, setting his butt in Tao's lap and his legs in Hobbs's, then reached around and gripped the arm of the couch tightly. "This couch is mine. I'm not going anywhere."

Raydor laughed again and her eyes started clearing up. "Don't expect me to make you breakfast in the morning."

* * *

Flynn and Provenza continued their self-given assignment of being Raydor's watchdogs until finals finished. Even once finals were over, they only conceded to abandoning their posts when she threatened to tell Professors McGonagall and Snape about their illegal dog.

Once winter break officially began, Hobbs started moving her stuff into Raydor's house. If it were entirely Hobbs's decision, she would have moved everything within a day or two, but Emily was fascinated by just about everything brought into the house and demanded to see every one of Hobbs's outfits. She evaluated every article of clothing, making sure to tell Hobbs what she wanted to use to play dress up. Ricky made continuous efforts to try to play with the moving boxes, which did not help things along, either.

After four days of moving at a rate of only three or four boxes a day, Hobbs conspired with Raydor and the pair arranged for the children to spend the day in Diagon Alley with Tao and Sanchez. With the promise of free food, the pair also convinced Flynn and Provenza to assist in the moving process.

After just three hours, all of Hobbs's possessions were gathered in Raydor's living room.

"Good God, Hobbs," said Provenza, looking at the mess before him. "Could you have any more possessions?"

"Just because you wear and read the same things all the time doesn't mean everyone else does," said Hobbs.

"I read different things," Provenza argued.

"Ricky's bedtime stories don't count," Hobbs quipped.

While Hobbs and Provenza continued to snipe at each other, Flynn moved to join Raydor in the kitchen.

"You don't have to cook," he said after watching Raydor bustle about for a moment. "Provenza and I would have helped Andrea move, anyway."

"I want to," said Raydor, flashing a smile before opening her fridge. "Finals are done, I survived my first semester of Auror training, and I currently don't have to concern myself with what the kids are doing. This meal is as much for me as it is for you."

"At least let me help," said Flynn.

"How do you feel about doing dishes?" Raydor asked.

"No problem," said Flynn. He drew his wand and flicked it at the sink, then smirked as the dishes washed themselves. "It's like you forget you're a witch sometimes."

"I've discovered that simple spells like that can have disastrous consequences if they're left untended," said Raydor after rolling her eyes. "As such, I've become accustomed to not using them."

"There's a story here," said Flynn with a mischievous spark in his eyes, "and I want to hear it."

Raydor chuckled lightly as she set a pan full of ground beef onto her stove. "It's not that exciting, really. I set the dishes to wash themselves and got distracted by – " she stopped abruptly, then cleared her throat, " – by something in the house," she tried to finish casually. "Anyway, when I came back, half the kitchen floor was covered in suds."

Flynn humored Raydor with a laugh before looking keenly at her face, which was recovering from a blush. "Have you heard anything from Jack since he dropped by last week?"

"In a way," said Raydor in her too-calm voice. She flipped some of the meat in her pan before continuing. "I got a bill from the Hog's Head night before last."

"The nerve of that guy!" said Flynn irritably. "You didn't pay it, did you?"

"Of course not," said Raydor airily. "I'm working to settle enough of Jack's bills as it is. I sorted the situation out with the owner yesterday and it's not my concern anymore."

"Think he'll show up again?" Flynn asked after swallowing several offensive comments.

Raydor shrugged slightly. "I don't know. He's obviously floating around here somewhere. He very well may."

"And he's obviously drinking, too," said Flynn seriously. "I think one of us guys should stay here with you, the kids, and Andrea until we know he's gone."

"Andy, - "

"You told us the other day about the _first_ time he hit you, Sharon," said Andy, concern laced into his voice. "That you said _first_ implies that there were other times, and I think we both know that he won't stop himself now if the opportunity presents itself."

"He won't touch me," said Raydor unconcernedly. She continued mixing the sizzling meat without so much as glancing at her teammate.

"I'm not trying to say that you're weak, Sharon, but it's happened before," Flynn argued.

Raydor set her palms on her counter and leaned slightly toward Flynn. "I didn't fight before, Andy, because I knew that if I caused trouble, I would lose the kids. Jack's a lawyer, and a good one, when he's sober. If I had brought forth claims of abuse, he'd have gotten himself out of the charges and done everything he could to make me look like an unfit mother. I played the game, and I won. He can't take the kids from me now. He _will not_ touch me, or them."

Flynn's jaw hung loosely as he watched Raydor set to work draining the browned beef. "My God, I'm an asshole," he breathed after a moment.

Raydor spilled some beef as she convulsed with silent laughter. "Why do you say that?" she asked after composing herself somewhat.

"I used to think you were heartless, a machine," said Flynn.

"I can't say I blame you," Raydor said as she started to clean up her spill. "I wasn't exactly friendly to my fellows in law enforcement while I was with Internal Affairs. Hazard of the job, I guess."

"I think you'd blame me if you heard some of the things I said while you were helping investigate Johnson," Flynn admitted.

"Well now I'm curious," Raydor teased.

The doorbell rang before Flynn could respond.

"If that's Moody, I just might put my fist through your wall," said Flynn.

Raydor began heading toward the door, but Hobbs beat her to it.

"What are you doing here?" Hobbs asked, clearly surprised. "Sharon!"

Raydor ran the rest of the way into the entry hall of her house to see that Provenza had put himself between Hobbs and Jack standing in the doorway. She huffed in irritation as she strode confidently right up to her husband. "What do you want now, Jack?"

"Hello to you too, Sharon," said Jack.

Raydor turned her back on her husband to look at her very much on-edge friends in the hallway. "Andrea, haven't you got some unpacking to do? I think Andy would be willing to help you get a few boxes upstairs."

Hobbs nodded, grabbed Flynn's arm, and pulled him away with her into the living room. Raydor did not miss the hurt look on Flynn's face, but she also did not fail to see the rage he directed toward Jack. If she were going to have back up, she needed to make sure it was someone with a less volatile temper. Provenza, though irritable, was always so and could hardly ever be provoked to anything more than a biting comment.

Provenza stepped forward until he was to the side of, and just slightly behind, his teammate. Should the situation arise, he would be able to intervene on his leader's behalf almost immediately.

"So that girl can move in here but I can't?" Jack asked with malice.

"Andrea will be positively contributing to the running of this house, Jack. So yes, she can move in and you can't. Not until you get yourself together, anyway," said Raydor coolly.

"Look at me, Sharon," said Jack, gesturing to himself. "I'm in a suit, nothing but my keys, wand, and wallet in my pockets, I'm cleaned up. I'm together."

"Yes, I've known you to do that from time to time," said Raydor, "usually when you want something. You should know now that you're not getting a damn thing from me, Jack."

"Such language, Sharon," said Jack in an affronted tone. "I hope you don't say those kinds of things in front of Emily and Ricky."

"You mean the kids you haven't paid any child support for in the year and a half since you walked out on them?" said Provenza smartly. "Your concern for them is truly heart wrenching."

"And who're you?" Jack asked.

"Name's Provenza," said Provenza with his chin in the air proudly. "I'm a colleague of Sharon's."

"Jack, I've told you time and time again what the deal is in terms of your visiting," said Raydor, redirecting Jack's attention to herself. "If there's nothing else, then I'd like you to leave."

"This is day one, Sharon," said Jack, holding up a finger. "I'll come back tomorrow to prove day two to you." And with that, Jack smiled, waved, and left.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Provenza, closely watching Jack's back as he walked away.

"It means that he _really_ wants something," said Raydor. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes suspiciously while she observed her husband Disapparate.

* * *

Later on in the day, Tao and Sanchez returned with Emily and Ricky, who were none the wiser about their father's visit.

"Did you get what we discussed?" Hobbs quietly asked Tao while Emily regaled Flynn with tales of the day.

"I went to a couple of shops while Julio took the kids for ice cream and to see Santa," said Tao. "I got everything I could within our budget. What'd we miss while we were gone?"

Hobbs sighed heavily. "Well…"

"You missed another visit from everyone's favorite ass, Jack," Provenza growled. "Apparently, we'll see him tomorrow and the day after, too."

Tao raised his brows, then held out his hand. "Why?" he asked slowly.

"Sharon won't let him see the kids unless he can prove to her that he's been sober three days straight," said Hobbs. "Apparently, he's decided to finally try to go through with it."

"Where is Sharon, anyway?" asked Tao.

"Going around to the bars in the area to make sure Jack doesn't cheat her," said Provenza. "I still don't get why you won't just let us kill him, Andrea."

Hobbs rolled her eyes before walking away.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

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	9. Chapter 9

Jack came back the next day, and the day after. Every visit, he was in clean clothes with a smile on his face. He spoke civilly and did not press to come into the house.

"So?" Jack asked, rubbing his hands together on Raydor's front porch. "What do you say? It's been three days."

Raydor licked her lips before biting her bottom one. "A deal's a deal," she said finally. "But hear me now, Jack," she continued before he could get excited, "if you put a toe out of line in the presence of Emily and Ricky, if you so much as _touch_ any alcohol, you will sincerely regret it."

"Understood," said Jack with a charming smile. "So how about dinner? My treat."

Raydor nodded and gave a tight smile that was betrayed by her narrowed eyes. Details were settled and Jack left.

When Hobbs came back from running errands, it was to find Raydor sitting on a couch with a cold cup of tea in one hand and the nails of the other in her mouth. "Where are the kids?" she asked.

Raydor seemed to break from a trance. She took her hand from her mouth and smiled at Hobbs. "Ricky's down for a nap and Emily's decorating cookies in the kitchen."

Hobbs put her bags aside and settled herself next to her housemate. "Talk to me."

Raydor sighed and looked at her ceiling for a few moments before complying. "Jack made it three days," she said finally. "I've had every bar and store that sells liquor in the area on alert and I've heard nothing from any of them. I agreed to bring the kids to meet him for dinner tonight."

"Well," said Hobbs thoughtfully, "allow me to play devil's advocate. It seems that he's trying to get things back on track, maybe."

"Why now?" Raydor asked. "That's what's bothering me. Why now?"

"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve," said Hobbs with a shrug. "Makes people ponder what they really care about."

Raydor shook her head. "Not Jack," she said. "He spent the last two Christmases we were together sleeping off major hangovers, and I have no idea where he was last year. He wants something, I'm sure of it."

"Maybe what he wants, Sharon, is to spend Christmas with his family," Hobbs suggested.

Raydor exhaled carefully before shaking her head as if to clear it, then looking at Hobbs with a smile in place. "So you said your parents are coming by tonight?"

"Yeah, they want to see the new place," said Hobbs, deciding to allow the subject change. "They're staying at a hotel overnight, then they'll be off first thing in the morning to go spend the holiday with my brother and his family. I'll probably be back pretty late, so don't wait up or anything."

"Mom, I'm out of red frosting," said Emily.

"Oh, sweetie!" Raydor exclaimed upon catching sight of her daughter. She laughed lightly as she got off the couch. "You must be working very hard to have gotten so much frosting on your face and clothes!"

Emily looked down at her well-worn shirt with a scene from "The Nutcracker" on it and gasped. "Oh no! My ballerina! Mommy, can you fix it?"

"Yes, honey, I can get the dye out of your ballerina when I wash your shirt," said Raydor with a grin. "Let's get to that red frosting, huh?"

"Ok, but you can't look at the cookies," said Emily seriously. "They're a surprise!"

"Oh? Well I've got a bit of a surprise for you later today," said Raydor, allowing herself to be led into the kitchen by her daughter.

"What's the surprise?" Emily asked eagerly

* * *

Hobbs closed the front door behind herself a little after midnight and sighed as she rested her weight against it and took off her shoes. She loved her parents and had been happy to see them, but was reminded of why she enjoyed not living with them. The first hour or so had been wonderful, filled with simple talk, recalling memories, and catching up. Then her father had started asking more and more detailed questions about her soon-to-be job and her mother had begun probing into her romantic life, or lack thereof.

Hobbs opened the refrigerator and pushed aside a couple of takeout boxes of leftovers and a carton of milk to pull out one of her tasty yogurts buried toward the back of the top shelf. She had learned to hide her favorite foods masterfully from Emily's curious little hands. Ricky, too, was figuring out how to find his own favorite foods and it was only a matter of time before he found out how to get to the higher levels of the fridge he could not yet reach.

Hobbs had been about to close the fridge when she did a double take on the milk she had pushed aside. It was not the brand usually in the house. Hobbs examined the door of the fridge to see nearly a full gallon of the usual stuff. She slowly closed the door, pondering the mystery milk, before shrugging, grabbing a spoon, and retreating to her room.

* * *

Despite her late night out, Hobbs's body would not let her sleep past six in the morning. So it was that she dragged herself out of bed and went downstairs. She had just gotten herself a bowl when Raydor joined her in the kitchen.

"Morning, Sharon," said Hobbs pleasantly. "How'd dinner go?"

"I'm – " said Raydor distractedly, "I'm still figuring that out. Why don't you tell me how things went with your parents?"

Hobbs shrugged and decided to give her friend time to process. She began chatting as she fished out her cereal and poured some into her bowl. "It went pretty well. It's always nice to catch up in person, rather than by letter, of course. It also definitely renewed my appreciation for living on my own, so to speak."

Hobbs grabbed the milk she had discovered the previous night off the top shelf and drowned her cereal in it. "My mother seems to think that living in a house with children will convince me to become an active participant in the dating scene. I'd be worried about her pressing me, but she's going to find out tomorrow as part of her Christmas gift that my brother and his wife are expecting twins. That'll keep her busy for a while."

Hobbs laughed to herself and shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth before promptly spitting it out. "Oh my God! This doesn't taste right."

"Did you buy that milk?" Raydor asked, suddenly keenly aware of everything around her.

"No, I thought you did," said Hobbs. "You're closer to the fridge. Can you grab it off the top shelf and smell it? Maybe it's expired."

Raydor, instead, reached across the counter and grabbed Hobbs's bowl. She sniffed the contents, then took a sip of the milk before spitting it out. "It's not expired," she half-growled. "It's got vodka in it. A _lot_ of vodka."

Hobbs's eye widened. "You're right! I haven't had vodka in over a year! I've forgotten what it's like! How'd we get spiked milk?"

Raydor flung open the fridge and ripped the foreign milk from the top shelf. "Neither of us bought it, Andrea. It was _planted_." She slammed the door shut and began stomping, flat footed, out of the kitchen. "I'm getting dressed and going out. I'll be back before long. Don't answer anything the kids ask if they wake up before I get back."

"Sharon, what - ?" Hobbs let her question stop short as she remembered just who Raydor had gone to dinner with.

* * *

When Raydor returned over an hour later, she was in an absolute rage. She slammed the door, threw her purse onto the couch with such force it bounced onto the floor, and every one of her steps resounded through the entire house.

"Mommy?" asked little Ricky timidly.

Raydor's mood turned on a dime. She smiled at her son and stepped, almost silently, over to him before picking him up. "Good morning, little man," she said pleasantly before blowing a raspberry into his neck. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah," said Ricky. "Why loud, Mommy?"

Raydor's smile faltered slightly before returning to full brilliance. "I wanted to make sure you could find me," she said.

"Oh," said Ricky, as if the explanation were completely and totally logical. "Breksticks?"

Raydor chuckled. "Yes, let's get you breakfast." She set him down and led him into the kitchen where Hobbs was sitting with Emily. The little girl was leaving out no detail in telling Hobbs about her dinner with her father.

"And then Daddy took us to get ice cream," Emily said excitedly. "I had pink ice cream, and Mommy shared her chocolate with Ricky. He's too little to get his own ice cream. He'd just get it all over himself, so Mommy helps him."

"I see," said Hobbs. She looked past Emily and made brief eye contact with Raydor, but the other woman quickly looked away to begin assembling her son's breakfast.

"And _then_ Daddy told us about his new job!" said Emily, beginning to bounce in her seat. "He's going to be here all the time now, he says! He said got a job here. He said he was tired of being so far away from me. So now he can take me out for ice cream all the time!"

"You father's not going to be taking you out for ice cream, Emily," said Raydor with a harsher tone than she typically used with her children. She set Ricky up in his usual chair and put a glass of milk in front of him before grabbing a knife and beginning to cut up an apple.

"Why not?" Emily whined.

"Your father's job is a little further away than he thought," Raydor tried to say patiently. She very nearly sliced her finger instead of the apple.

"Will he be here tomorrow for Christmas?" Emily asked.

"No," Raydor answered. She put a spoonful of peanut butter on the plate with the apple and gave it to Ricky.

"But he promised!" Emily burst. "He said he would be here, and you said he could come!"

"Sometimes, Emily, people can't keep their promises," said Raydor, beginning to cut up another apple for herself.

"But – "

"Emily, why don't you go get dressed and brush your teeth?" Hobbs suggested.

"There you go, sweetie," said Raydor, her usual tone suddenly back in place. "Once you've done that you can work on the cards you were so excited about yesterday."

"He promised," Emily stated, pushing herself away from the table. "He's going to be here. He promised." She raised her head high as she strode out of the kitchen with confidence in her statement.

Very little was said as Ricky finished his food before scuttling off to go play.

Hobbs simply continued to sit and watch as Raydor dragged peanut butter around her plate with an apple slice, making no effort to bring the food to her mouth.

"I'm such an idiot," said Raydor finally.

Hobbs's eyebrows drew together. "I've heard you be called a lot of things, Sharon. Idiot's not really one of them."

"I so badly wanted to believe Jack could change," said Raydor, tears welling in her eyes. "When he actually showed up on time to get me and the kids I started twisting facts to fit what I wanted to be true instead of looking at where the facts actually pointed. Andrea, I messed up."

"He managed to scrape himself together to hold up his end of the three day deal," said Hobbs. "You held up your end. So Emily and Ricky think the world of him. So what? I thought you wanted that door to be open."

"He planned it all, Andrea! Last night he was on time, well dressed, charming. He focused on the kids, played with them, talked with them, paid for dinner and dessert. My God, I should have seen it!"

Hobbs pursed her lips as she observed Raydor. The woman shook her head and breathed deeply several times in desperation to keep her tears at bay. Hobbs waited. There was more, she knew, and it would come soon enough.

After more than a minute passed, Raydor took one last deep breath before continuing. "When I said it was time to get the kids back home, Emily started whining because she wanted to stay out. Jack actually backed me up. He brought us all the way to the door and, um… Oh, I'm so _stupid_!"

"Sharon, you're starting to make me nervous!" Hobbs said.

"I let him spend the night, Andrea," Raydor admitted in a whisper. "I let him spend the night with me."

Hobbs exhaled slowly and carefully calculated her response. "Well – "

" _That_ was what he really wanted out of all this," said Raydor smally. "He wanted access to my room. He racked up debts with some scary people, and I keep records of what debts I've paid, but I don't tell him. He wanted copies of those records so he could know where it was safe for him to be. He got them after I fell asleep, and then he left."

"Sh-Sharon, he didn't – " Hobbs cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Did he _force_ you to – "

"No, he didn't," said Raydor, burying her face in her hands. "I told you I'm an idiot. _Such_ an idiot! I fell for it all!"

Hobbs shuddered as she exhaled and collapsed backward into her chair. "Well, from here let's – "

"I haven't told you the worst part," said Raydor lowly.

"Oh, Sharon, I don't really need details," Hobbs said with a wince.

"The milk," said Raydor, face still in hands.

"The – The milk?" Hobbs asked confusedly. She had forgotten all about it.

"I told you Jack planned everything. He bought the vodka a week ago because he knew I'd check on him once he started the three days. He spiked the milk. He put it in the fridge. He knows I pour Emily and Ricky a glass of milk with their breakfast every day, and that I make sure they drink it. It'd only be a matter of time before I used the milk he put in there."

Hobbs felt her jaw drop and made no effort to pick it back up. "Oh – Oh my _God!_ " she finally exclaimed. In a frantic whisper, she continued, "His own children, really? If they'd had _vodka_ of all things? With how much was in there, and with their tiny stomachs? They'd have to be rushed to a hospital!"

"And they would get taken away from me," said Raydor thickly, tears beginning to seep through her fingers. "My sole custody would come into question. Jack could very well have gotten them, or they could have gone into foster care."

Hobbs found herself truly speechless. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out. She was appalled and repulsed to her very core.

"It was all too good to be true, and I should have seen it," said Raydor. She finally moved her hands to show Hobbs her red, puffy eyes and runny nose. "I so badly wanted to believe that I could have the man I married back that I almost cost my children their safety and security. I almost made my children lose their home, Andrea!" Raydor started to cry in earnest, her shoulders convulsing with sobs. "I could have lost them!"

Hobbs launched out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Raydor tightly. She shushed her gently and rocked slightly, fighting to maintain her own composure as she desperately tried to help her friend regain hers.

* * *

"Sharon, are you _sure_ you still want everyone coming over?" Hobbs asked. She had been helping Raydor bustle about the house since finishing dinner the day previous, doing last minute decorating and cleaning for the Christmas party they were hosting. It did not take long for Hobbs to come to the conclusion that her friend was simply finding everything possible with which to distract herself.

"Of course I still want everyone coming over," said Raydor. As she spoke she wove her wand through the air, twirling garland around the railing on the stairs. "Everyone's planned to be here, and I'm happy to host!"

"Yeah, but Sharon, I know you didn't sleep last night," said Hobbs.

"I slept," said Raydor.

"No, you didn't. The front door was unlocked when I came down for breakfast. You _always_ lock it before going upstairs for the night," Hobbs argued. "I've even seen you unlock it just to lock it again!"

"Look," said Raydor with a sigh. "I've made mistakes I'm having difficulty dealing with. Give me time, Andrea. I'll work it out. In the mean time, I've begged you – "

"Not to tell the guys," said Hobbs with a roll of her eyes. "I don't think that's the right call, Sharon. I really don't."

"Can you imagine how Julio would react?" Raydor asked with a scoff. "Or what stupid thing Andy might do? No, they stay in the dark. It's better that way."

"Sharon, they should know incase – "

" _No_ , Andrea!" Raydor insisted.

Hobbs bit the inside of her cheek and pursed her lips. She exhaled heavily before dropping the subject. "What do you need help with?"

"Ho, ho, ho!" called Flynn, walking through the front door.

"What I need, Andrea, is for everything and everyone to act normal," said Raydor lowly before Flynn entered the living room. "Andy! You're a little early," she said cheerfully.

Hobbs resumed chewing her cheek while Provenza came in with a Santa hat on his head and a box in his arms.

"Thanks for holding the door open for me, Flynn," said Provenza sourly.

"Oh, is that the – " Raydor started.

"Food you asked us to bring?" finished Provenza. "Yes, and I'm rather tired of carrying it," he added with a pointed look at his roommate.

Raydor hurried over, took the box from Provenza, and headed to the kitchen, Flynn on her tail to help.

Provenza rolled his shoulders irritably. "Well what's got you in such a great mood?" he asked, observing Hobbs as he flopped down on a couch.

Hobbs looked over her shoulder to check that Raydor was not going to pop back into the living room. "Look, Sharon asked me not to say anything, but I need to talk to you and Mike later."

"I assume this has something to do with her ass of a husband?" Provenza growled.

"That'd be a good guess," said Hobbs.

Provenza nodded and leaned back into the couch, settling himself for a nap. "I'll find the opportunity for the three of us to slip away for a bit at some point tonight."

"Thanks," said Hobbs. "Where are Mike and Julio, anyway?"

"They're purposely coming late with our surprise," said Provenza. "Could you leave me alone now? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

"Good luck with that once Emily and Ricky come down," said Hobbs, patting Provenza's head as she walked past him to greet Morales, who had just come in the door.

Buzz arrived before long and was quickly stolen away by Ricky to play with a laptop. The little boy had been dressed for the day by his sister. He had antlers on his head, though they fell off every other minute. The red lipstick on his nose was smeared before long and, when Emily was not looking, Buzz wiped it off before the boy could get anything on the carpet or furniture.

Emily, once she came downstairs, was kept close by her mother. Every time the girl tried to leave her sight, Raydor found some thing or another for her to do to keep her nearby.

"Emily, why don't you lay out the cookies you decorated on that tray on the table?" Raydor suggested when Emily showed interest in following Morales into the living room.

"We haven't eaten dinner yet," said Emily. "You always say that we can't have dessert before dinner!"

"You're very right," said Raydor with a wide smile, "but today's a special occasion."

Emily positively beamed and moved as fast as she possibly could to grab the cookies and set them out before her mother could change her mind. The cookies were all slathered with frosting and many had people's names, or at least the first letter of a name, scrawled out on them with all the finesse a six year old could produce.

"Those look very nice, Emily," said Raydor. "Are the names to make sure everyone has their fair share?"

"Yeah," said Emily. "Since we're not doing real presents this year, I thought these could be presents!"

"That was very thoughtful, sweetie," said Raydor, kissing the top of her daughter's head.

"And I made some for Daddy, too," said Emily proudly, pointing at a tree-shaped cookie with "Dad" written roughly.

Raydor's body seemed to shut down momentarily before she showed her daughter a sad, tense smile. "That was very nice, Emily, but I told you that Daddy's not going to make it today."

"He promised," said Emily. " _You_ never break your promises, and you and Daddy love each other, which means that you do all the same things, so _he_ won't break his promises either!"

Raydor stroked her daughter's hair as anger and pity both swept across her face. "If you've set the cookies like you want them, why don't we take the tray into the living room?"

"Okay!" said Emily cheerily. She carefully picked up the tray and started making her way slowly out of the kitchen.

"Andy, where are Mike and Julio?" Raydor asked, giving Emily a head start. "They've got the ham!"

"Maybe they went out to kill the pig, themselves," said Flynn with a shrug. "I don't know."

Raydor looked skyward for a moment before catching up to her daughter and joining the crowd in the living room.

Finally, Tao walked into the living room and beckoned everyone's attention. "Hey, Emily, Ricky, come here!"

The children responded quickly, coming right to Tao's feet.

"Where's Jul-lo?" Ricky asked.

"Julio's bringing something in that's kind of heavy," said Tao. "I think he could use some help!"

Emily and Ricky sped out of the living room and Tao waved for everyone else to follow, allowing Raydor to take lead.

Raydor stopped short in her doorway upon catching sight of Sanchez dragging a large red bag across her lawn. "That's not – " she choked out. She cleared her throat and tried again. "That's not what I think it is, is it?"

"That depends on what you think it is," said Provenza smartly.

"Emily, Ricky! Good, you're here," said Sanchez. He stopped lugging the bag and crouched down to be at eye level with the children. "Now, you said that Santa wasn't going to be able to make it to your house this year, right?"

"Mommy said that he's _really_ busy," said Emily while her brother nodded vigorously. "He's got a lot of kids to help that don't have as much as me and Ricky."

"That's right, he does," said Tao, joining his partner in crouching by the children. "Julio and I thought that we might help him a little bit, though."

"So since you two have been so good and been listening really well to your mom, Mike and I tracked Santa down," said Sanchez, "and we asked if we could deliver your presents for him."

"So Santa loaded up one of his bags and we brought it all the way over here for you!" said Tao.

Emily squealed loudly and jumped onto Sanchez. "Thank you!" she screamed. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Ricky clapped his hands and, after requesting Tao's assistance, started dragging the bag the rest of the way to the house.

Raydor threw her hands over her mouth and nose. Tears welled in her eyes as she watched her children assist in getting the bag into the house and started unloading under the tree.

"Merry Christmas, Sharon," said Provenza before heading over to direct traffic at the tree.

"You shouldn't have," Raydor breathed. "You really shouldn't have! This was all of you?"

"No," said Flynn. "Didn't you hear Mike and Julio? It was Santa."

Raydor pushed Flynn playfully. "I can't believe you did this."

"Well, after we all agreed not to get each other anything, we decided to go behind your back and pitch in to get the kids some stuff," said Morales with a snarky smile.

"You have to be sure to tell me how much – "

"Sharon, you're not paying us back," said Hobbs with an amused chortle. "We all know things are tight for you right now, hence your telling the kids that Santa wouldn't be able to make it this year."

"All we did was take the money we would have spent on gifts for each other and put it into a pot for Emily and Ricky," said Flynn. "No big deal."

"Why don't you sit down while they start opening?" Buzz suggested. "I can finish up stuff in the kitchen."

"Thank you, Buzz," said Raydor. She smiled at Buzz, Morales, Flynn, and Hobbs in turn before sitting on the couch nearest the tree and promptly being gleefully attacked by her ecstatic children.

The last thing out of the red bag was a plain cardboard box. Tao picked it up, explained to Ricky that it was part of dinner, not another present, and began heading to the kitchen with it.

"Let me help you with that, Mike!" said Provenza, hurrying to catch up.

"You're _volunteering_ to help?" Tao asked confusedly. "Who are you and what have you done with Provenza?"

"I'm hungry, Tao, so yes, I'm volunteering to help speed things along," Provenza quipped. "If it makes you feel better, you can tell yourself that I was struck with Christmas cheer." As he passed Hobbs, he grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

"I've got things covered in here, guys, if you want to go watch – " Buzz began.

"We'll finish things up, Buzz," said Provenza. "Ricky's probably going to want your help with some doodad or another, anyway."

"Well, okay, but – "

"Bye, Buzz," said Provenza pointedly.

"Bah humbug to you too," said Buzz lowly as he exited the kitchen.

"Alright, what's the deal, Hobbs?" Provenza asked, gesturing for Tao to get to work with the ham.

Tao rolled his eyes before taking the ham out of the box. "I really don't need any help, Provenza, so you can go back to lounging on the couch and take Andrea with you. Julio and I already have this thing ready to go. Just needs to heat up a bit." He opened the oven and set the ham in before looking at his teammate expectantly.

"Didn't you hear me, Mike?" said Provenza. "Hobbs has something to tell us."

Tao turned to look at Hobbs with furrowed brows. "What could you have to tell just me and Provenza?"

Hobbs sighed heavily before stepping closer to the two men. "Well, you know that Jack made it his three days and went to dinner with Sharon and the kids."

"Yeah, and, as discussed, none of us have asked Sharon any questions," said Provenza. "Get on with it!"

"Hold on, before I continue, I think I should explain myself a little," said Hobbs.

"Ye gods," Provenza muttered, hanging his head.

"Come on, Andrea, spit it out," Tao encouraged.

"Look, I'm telling you two about this because I think someone besides me needs to be aware of what's happened," said Hobbs.

"So why not tell all of us?" Tao asked.

"Julio's got a temper, and we've all seen the way Andy's been looking at Sharon," said Hobbs.

"Whoah!" Provenza interjected. "Whoah, whoah, whoah. Stop. What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Are you serious?" Hobbs asked incredulously. "You mean to tell me that you _live_ with the guy and you haven't figured it out?"

"Andrea, dinner with Jack?" Tao prompted.

Hobbs shook her head as if to clear it. "Jack showed up on time and was incredibly charming. He did everything Sharon wanted. She wanted to believe so badly that he could change that she let her guard down," said Hobbs. She made pointed eye contact with each of the men. "What I'm about to tell you needs to be disclosed delicately. We _cannot_ risk setting off Julio or Andy. If you tell them, you need to make sure they don't do anything stupid."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," said Provenza, waving his hand. "Come on, let's go."

"Sharon let Jack spend the night with her," said Hobbs.

"Whoah! What?" Tao burst.

"Shhh!" Hobbs desperately insisted.

"Sorry," Tao whispered, covering his mouth with his hand.

"She feels terrible and she's really embarrassed by it," said Hobbs.

"That can't be everything," said Provenza. "If that was all, I doubt Sharon would have told _anyone_ that she'd spent the night with her estranged husband."

"Yeah, well, it's not all," Hobbs sighed. "After Sharon fell asleep, Jack copied her records of what debts she'd paid, then he left. She's pretty sure that's what he was after the whole time."

"That can't be everything, either," Provenza reasoned.

"What do you mean that can't be everything?" asked Tao, hand on top of his head. " _I_ feel like beating the guy, and I'm nowhere near as short as Julio!"

"That's something Sharon would bottle up and not bother _any_ of us with," said Provenza. "If something's upset her so deeply that she poured her soul out to Hobbs and insisted we not be told, it's got to have something to do with the kids!"

Hobbs tapped her nose, silencing the argument on Tao's lips. "There was milk in the fridge that neither Sharon nor I bought, and it was heavily spiked with vodka. You know what Sharon makes sure the kids drink _every_ morning?"

"Son of a bitch," said Tao lowly.

Provenza nodded. "There we go, that's the crux of the problem. So Jack thought he'd get Sharon to poison the kids, get them taken away from her, and then swoop in to save the day?"

"I don't know about save the day," said Hobbs, "but he definitely knew it'd open doors for him."

"So what is it you want us to do?" Provenza asked.

"Sharon said she made it abundantly clear to Jack that he's not to come anywhere near the kids unless he can prove that he has really and truly cleaned himself up, which I think we all know he probably won't ever do," said Hobbs. "When the government is back to its usual hours after the holidays, I intend on finding out where Jack's working, if anywhere. In the mean time, I just want help making sure Jack doesn't come around here and that he doesn't do any damage to Sharon, Emily, or Ricky."

"That can be arranged," said Provenza.

"Please also keep in mind that if anything happens to Jack, Sharon will be at the top of the suspect list," said Hobbs with an insincere smile, "and we all know what that means for someone in our situation."

Provenza swiveled to face Tao. "So how do you suggest we handle our roommates?"

"If Jack's trying to hurt the kids, we can't _not_ tell them," said Tao, staring blankly ahead as he thought through options. "On the other hand, I can't really think of a scenario that involves Julio finding out without absolutely losing it."

"It'd be fun to see who got to Jack faster, though – Julio or Flynn," said Provenza with a lopsided grin.

"Oh, so you agree that Andy's a concern?" said Hobbs archly. "Could it be because – "

"I am neither confirming nor denying what you implied earlier," said Provenza diplomatically. "I'm simply saying that I have better control over my temper than Flynn does, and I can see him making a nice little noose for himself if he's allowed the chance here."

"Mmmhmm," said Hobbs knowingly. "I'll leave Julio and Andy to you two, but one way or another, Sharon can never know that we talked about this."

"Talked about what?" said Tao with a smart smile.

Hobbs smirked before leaving the kitchen.

"But seriously, what are we going to do?" Tao asked Provenza. "Julio gets wind of this, and Jack's going to be a bloody lump on the sidewalk."

"Well, Tao, I think the first thing we should do is take a walk," said Provenza, rising from his chair.

"You wouldn't be thinking of finding a bar nearby that's open, would you?" asked Tao.

"Now that you mention it, I think I could go for a round or two," Provenza answered.

"Of drinking or boxing?" said Tao with a boyish grin.

"One may lead to the other," Provenza admitted. "Come on, we need to move fast, while everyone's still distracted with the kids."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Oh, the joys of the manipulative and narcissistic creatures that are addicts. On the other hand, a taste of Shandy! I hope that _kind_ of eased the pain of Jack's assholery.

Review! Tell me what you think, ask questions, whatever the heck strikes your fancy to do.


	10. Chapter 10

Finding Jack was a simple task. The Hog's Head was open, even though it was Christmas, and Jack was snoozing in a corner booth, a half-empty bottle in front of him.

"Wake up, you lousy bum," said Provenza harshly, shoving Jack's shoulder roughly.

Jack snorted as he sluggishly corrected his posture. "What the hell – wait, I know you."

"Yes, I've been unfortunate enough as to make your acquaintance," said Provenza, seating himself in the booth. Tao took a seat as well, boxing Jack into the corner. "I'd like to discuss something of great importance with you."

Jack blinked heavily and tried to focus his eyes unsuccessfully. He lolled his head to the side to put Tao in his line of vision. "Who're you?" he asked, sounding as though his tongue was made of lead.

"Name's Tao," Tao answered. "Not that you'll remember it," he added lowly.

"'S this about Sharon?" Jack asked, hiccupping in the middle of his wife's name.

"The drunk can reason!" said Provenza. "It's a Christmas miracle!"

Jack winced at the increase in volume.

"Mind if we ask why you're still here in Hogsmeade?" asked Tao.

"I plan on visiting my kids," Jack slurred. He looked at his watch, which he certainly could not read. "I've got some time before dinner."

"You're not going anywhere near Emily or Ricky," said Provenza.

"In case you've forgotten," said Tao as Jack's face fell to confusion, "your wife, who has sole custody of your children, has forbade you from coming anywhere near them."

"Ah, she's jus' got a stick up her ass, like usual," said Jack dismissively. "She'll take me back. She always does."

Provenza and Tao both looked beyond disgusted with the grin that came over Jack's face and the chuckle he emitted before grabbing his bottle.

Provenza swiped the bottle and set it well out of Jack's reach. "Now you listen here, you sick, perverted neanderthal," he said through gritted teeth. "You're going to pack up your measly possessions, pay your tabs, and get the hell out of here by noon tomorrow or I will make it my personal mission in life to make you as miserable as possible."

"Doin' a pretty good job of that right now," said Jack with a pompous waggle of his head. He made to grab his bottle of booze, but Provenza slammed him back into the booth.

"We know you tried to poison your own kids and frame your wife for it, Jack," said Tao. "As of now, we haven't told our partners, but we will if you're not gone tomorrow."

"Believe me when I say that we're cute little puppies compared to our partners when you get them rattled," said Provenza.

"And trust us, they'll be good and rattled after we tell them how you tried to use your own children as leverage for whatever plan you've concocted," Tao added. "I don't think your bosses would be too happy to hear about it either. I'm willing to bet they'll also frown upon the fact that you're more than a year behind on child support."

"You threatening me?" Jack asked.

"Now you're getting it!" said Provenza cheerily, smacking Jack on the shoulder. "Noon tomorrow, Jack, or your life's going to get a hell of a lot more complicated." He scooted out of his seat as Tao to do the same.

"Oh, and, before we forget," said Tao, straightening his shirt, "if we catch wind that you're spreading rumors about Sharon or bragging about how you duped her, we'll arrange for you to lose every job you might find on this side of the Mississippi."

"Have a merry Christmas, Jackass," said Provenza with an overly charming smile. He slammed Jack's bottle down in front of the man, then left with Tao.

"So we tell Julio and Andy once he's gone?" Tao asked lowly.

"We tell them at 12:01 tomorrow whether he's gone or not," said Provenza.

* * *

Jack was gone by the time Provenza and Tao checked up on him the following day. They proceeded back to campus to inform their roommates, both of whom were absolutely infuriated by the news given. Provenza had to guard the door to keep Flynn from leaving to go after Jack for the better part of the day, and Sanchez shouted at Tao for not telling him earlier for more than an hour.

Despite their initial rage, Flynn and Sanchez both eventually agreed not to let Raydor know that they had been told and to act as though nothing had happened. They kept their word, although both had become more protective of Emily and Ricky.

By the time New Year's Eve rolled around, Raydor was almost completely back to herself. She went to sleep and woke up at her normal hours and ate regularly. She had been thrilled to come home to tell Hobbs that she had confirmed Jack had left town. She would, from time to time, zone out and tear up slightly while watching her children play, but she usually corrected herself before anyone but Hobbs noticed. Emily had forgotten almost entirely about her father's existence and her disappointment over his not showing up for Christmas. Ricky was too busy with all his new toys to think of anything else.

The team, plus Morales, thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the start of the New Year. In fact, they stayed up so late talking and playing games that Raydor and Hobbs agreed to let all the men stay in the living room, rather than trek all the way back to campus, or home, in Buzz's case.

The following morning, Raydor made her way through the gauntlet of limp arms and legs that had become her living room to gain access to her kitchen. She happily set to work making pancakes as quietly as she could manage. Once again, she felt herself to be completely content with her situation in life. The days leading up to Christmas and the day or two after had been incredibly taxing on her, but she had had the unwavering support and camaraderie from her friends to keep her going. Raydor did not particularly care to think what state she might have ended up in after Jack's tricks if she had not had her team.

"Good morning," said Flynn hoarsely, entering the kitchen while rubbing his eyes.

Raydor laughed lightly at Flynn's disheveled appearance. "Good morning, Andy."

"Want some help?" Flynn asked after yawning.

"You can scramble the eggs Julio brought back from his mother, if you'd like," said Raydor.

"How long have you been up?" asked Flynn as he walked stiffly about the kitchen. He grabbed a skillet, spatula, and bowl before pulling the eggs from the fridge.

"About thirty minutes," answered Raydor, beginning to flip the bubbling batter on her griddle.

"And you're dressed and cooking already?" Flynn asked with furrowed brow. "It's a holiday, Sharon! Don't you know how to kick back and relax a bit?"

Raydor smiled amusedly. "I am very relaxed, Andy."

"In jeans? I don't think so."

"Jeans are better than slacks and heels," Raydor pointed out. "They're also better than the same clothes I was wearing yesterday," she teased.

"I hope you get little bits of shell in your eggs," said Flynn in response, cracking an egg as he did so.

"I'd be impressed if you managed to get mine alone," Raydor admitted. Her body jarred as the sound of someone knocking on the door reached her ears. "Oh no," she breathed.

"I'll get it," said Flynn through his teeth.

Raydor leapt in front of Flynn and put a hand on his chest to push him back. "No, Andy, you won't."

"If Jack's back – "

"Then _I_ will deal with him," said Raydor firmly. Her hair hit Flynn in the face as she whipped around and went to her door.

"Raydor," said the gruff voice of Moody. He walked in without invitation.

"Mr. Moody!" said Raydor, clearly surprised. "Happy New Year."

Moody grunted in response and hung up his travelling cloak. "Flynn!" he barked.

Flynn hurried to the entryway and greeted his supervisor.

"I want to see bodies moving," said Moody. "I need everyone gathered and awake within ten minutes." He went off to the kitchen without further instruction.

Flynn hung his head. "Well this is a great start to the year," he said.

Raydor gave a sad, close-lipped smile as a response. "I'll wake everyone up if you keep working on breakfast," she offered. "I think we'll need it."

Flynn sighed, then nodded and dragged his feet as he headed to the kitchen.

Raydor gently woke Provenza by shaking his shoulder and calling his name softly.

"Do you know what time it is, Raydor?" Provenza asked grumpily. "I know this is your house, but my God!"

"Not my call," said Raydor. "Moody's here."

"Damn," muttered Provenza as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Can you wake the rest of the guys while I get Andrea? Andy's in the kitchen with Moody already."

Provenza nodded and waited until Raydor had disappeared up the stairs before kicking the lump on the floor that was Sanchez.

* * *

"Nice of you to join us, Hobbs," Moody growled. Hobbs was the last person to enter the kitchen and had done so five minutes later than Moody had wanted.

Hobbs looked at Raydor, who shook her head almost imperceptibly, before swallowing her smart reply and sitting down.

"Got an assignment for you," Moody announced.

"Um," said Morales, "I don't really work for – "

"You do now, Morales," said Moody gruffly. "I chose the lot of you carefully for this job. I started work to put this team together over a year ago. You, Hobbs, and Watson I chose especially carefully because I knew you could handle the seriousness of this situation. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," said Morales unenthusiastically. He looked unhappily at those gathered with him. "I knew you all were trouble."

"There, there, Morales," said Raydor, putting a plate before him. "Why don't you follow your food's example and smile?"

Morales looked down at his pancake to see butter had been smeared on it to make it look like a smiley face. He flashed Raydor a very forced smile before slashing the pancake in half.

Raydor rolled her eyes before continuing to distribute pancakes, eggs, and a limited amount of bacon.

"There's a serious underground network in place within our world," said Moody. "Nearly ten years ago I started noticing some strange connections between departments, odd friendships that don't usually happen. Five years ago certain rules and regulations started coming into effect that didn't make much sense and didn't work to the advantage of the general population."

"Sounds like normal government crap to me," said Provenza. "Why give when you can take?"

"You done, Provenza?" Moody asked harshly.

Provenza bowed his head slightly, though he wore an irritably smug expression, and gestured for Moody to continue.

"I started investigating discreetly," said Moody. "I've concluded two things. One, someone, or a small group of someones, is pulling a lot of different strings to make things go their way by use of blackmail. Two, the collection of said blackmail begins at Hogwarts."

"With a network of people with only ten years of experience, maximum, how could whoever this is have enough pull to influence the making of laws?" Flynn asked. "Ten years really isn't _that_ long, in the grand scheme of things."

"Since the creation of the Continued Education Program, mentors in the government have become increasingly common and important," said Hobbs, running her thumb along her pinky as she thought. "I've studied cases where assistants were blackmailed to get dirt on their bosses. Why not pull the same kind of stunt to get kids that are fresh out of school to flip on their mentors?"

"Well we all know that our legal system isn't flawless," said Tao, "but I find it hard to believe that someone could have created a network so elaborate that it would nullify all our checks and balances, sir."

"It's that belief, Tao, that has encouraged many people to turn a blind eye to this problem," said Moody.

"Mr. Moody, if you perhaps gave us some _specific_ instances which have led you to your conclusions, maybe we'd find it easier to come to the same understanding you've developed," Raydor suggested reasonably.

Moody produced a wiggling notebook tightly bound with a belt. "This is the one and only copy of my research," he said. "If any of this information gets out, I know the leak will have come from in this room and I _will act accordingly._ Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Raydor, answering for her entire team.

Moody pointed his wand at the notebook and it stilled, then he handed it over to Raydor, who started flipping through the pages with Provenza at her side.

"There's another thing," said Moody, "and I haven't written it down. About a year ago, just before I started forming this team, I had a witness – the only person in ten years that I've found willing to talk with me about all this. Shortly after meeting this witness, they disappeared."

"Who was this witness?" Raydor asked, glancing up from the notebook while Provenza turned another page.

"I'll hold that information for myself a while longer," said Moody. "Whoever made off with them cleaned their tracks well. I haven't been able to tie the witness to anything or anyone of note."

"So you want us to investigate the Hogwarts angle of this massive blackmail scheme," said Raydor.

"Correct."

"According to your notes, it's outgoing seniors that are targeted," said Raydor.

"That applies to none of us," said Provenza. "Missed the mark by a few years."

"I've got some seniors that'll be working with you," said Moody. "They'll be here soon. The lot of you aren't only going to be looking at students, you're going to be looking at staff."

"You think the professors are in on this?" asked Flynn. "They're job is to _help_ students, not back them into a corner."

"Raydor, you know something about people not doing their jobs properly, do you not?" asked Moody. "Perhaps you could explain a thing or two to Flynn."

Raydor sighed and set all her weight on one leg, then gave Moody a calculating look. "You said you've been working to put this team together for nearly a year," she said finally. "And you now say that you want us looking into people that have become our friends and colleagues. I have to say, Mr. Moody, that I feel – "

"Brings back memories of your time with Internal Affairs, doesn't it?" Moody asked smartly. "Yes, Raydor, I knew I wanted you on the team long before you applied. I wanted someone that knew how to investigate those who know the law. I pushed for Internal Affairs to start taking interns. Once you'd gotten in and I watched you for a while, I'd hoped to leave you in IA, get you a TA position, _and_ keep Johnson, but I realized my strategy needed to change once she hanged her career. I'd covered for her enough since taking her on, and she'd become too much of a liability. This situation requires finesse and subtlety, which are things Johnson did not in abundance possess."

Raydor sucked in her cheeks and looked at Moody with narrowed eyes. "You manipulated the system."

"No, Raydor, I manipulated _you_ ," said Moody callously. "It took a lot of subtle hinting to get you to transfer to the Auror department. You never _wanted_ such a dangerous job – you've got kids to take care of! Idid everything in my power to change your mind from behind the scenes.

"Do the lot of you _really_ think you were thrown together by coincidence?" Moody asked the room at large. "Since the CEP started, have you _ever_ known a lawyer to be attached to a team of investigators so consistently? Has such a hodge-podge of interns with such a variety in specializations been together for such a long period of time? Has a _researcher_ ever been brought on as more than a consultant, like Watson? No! _I_ made it happen, and I did it to put an end to the plot you see laid out in that notebook."

Tense silence settled in the kitchen until a tired little voice announced to its mother that it was hungry.

"Ricky, honey, take this banana and go eat it in your room," said Raydor, grabbing a banana out of her fruit basket and beginning to peel it before handing it to her son.

"But I want pancakes," Ricky argued. He glowered at Morales, who currently had his mouth stuffed with the carby, sugary goodness.

"I'll save you some, I promise," said Raydor, running her fingers through her son's hair. "Mommy and her friends have to finish this grown up meeting, then I'll call you down and you can have all the pancakes you want. Now please go back upstairs and play by yourself for a little bit."

Ricky, banana in hand, turned with a pout on his face and left.

"Riddle me this, oh great supervisor," said Provenza as though the interruption had not occured, "why have you chosen each of us, specifically? What is it about us that makes you think that we are the key to cracking this instead of your already highly trained and experienced Aurors?"

"Once I pinned the origin of the blackmail to Hogwarts, I knew I needed a team there," said Moody. "Couldn't trust students with it, couldn't get Aurors in without being suspicious. CEP was the perfect opportunity. So I waited for the right combination of people. Johnson could lie like no tomorrow and get whatever information she wanted. Raydor can handle pressure incredibly well and has the capability to investigate people that need to be checked, regardless of their standing, connections, or job. You, Provenza, know exactly how to push people's buttons, spin the truth as necessary, and cover you ass and those of your teammates. Flynn knows addicts – you'll need to make note of any and track them, by the way – and has the ability to make friends with all sorts. Sanchez, with his extensive knowledge of gangs, has the ability to figure out the hierarchy of organizations that exist outside the law and the know-how to turn people involved in said organizations to his advantage. Tao's understanding of forensics is extensive, and I wanted to make sure I had someone on this team that could observe and test evidence that might come up before it got the chance to be muddled up by the system."

"So we're all just cogs in your machine?" Flynn asked.

"Welcome to the real world, Flynn," said Moody unapologetically. "There's a job to be done and I found the people I believe can do the work."

"Where do Andrea, Buzz, and I fit into all this?" Morales asked after finishing his food and wiping his mouth.

"I've got some old Examiners' files for you to look through, Morales," said Moody. "My witness can't have been the first to go missing on account of all of this. I want to see if there's a link between the living and the dead that's been overlooked."

"By you," said Morales with a cheeky smile. "I'll do it, but I want you to understand that I am not yet licensed, which will cause all sorts of trouble if or when this all goes public."

"Noted," said Moody. "As for Hobbs, you'll need legal counsel through this process. She's got the know-how, plus she knows how to go into an uphill battle and turn things to her advantage. She digs to the bottom and makes sure things get done. Watson is on the cutting edge of melding Magic and Muggle technology. Whoever's responsible for all this knows how to get around magical countermeasures, but perhaps not Muggle ones, and certainly not a combination of the both. That's new grounds for everyone."

"Well, Mr. Moody," said Raydor diplomatically, "we'll certainly do what we can, but this is not a simple task you've given us, and we have a very limited time frame to try to get to the bottom of something you've been studying for a decade."

"Then you'd better get started," said Moody. "I will stay for a while longer, introduce you to the seniors you'll be working with, but then this investigation is _yours_. You cannot confer with anyone in the government or anyone on the Hogwarts payroll. I don't even want you talking to me about it unless there is a _massive_ break in the case."

"You do realize that you're asking us to commit career suicide if this all falls through?" asked Hobbs.

"And if it works out in your favor you'll be able to get whatever job you want without a problem," Moody replied.

"That's a mighty big 'if,'" Provenza pointed out.

"What about our families, sir?" Sanchez asked. "If people connected to this have been disappearing, then our investigating it puts our loved ones at risk."

"No government involvement," said Moody.

Raydor's face hardened and she abandoned the notebook full of evidence all together. "I'm afraid that's a deal breaker, Mr. Moody," she said firmly. "We've all got families to worry about and if they can't be protected while we're investigating this – "

"I hate to burst your bubble, Raydor," said Moody insincerely, "but your families are _always_ going to be at risk. You want their guaranteed safety, you're in the wrong field.

"Let's discuss some potential laws currently being debated, shall we?" Moody suggested before Raydor could try to argue. "There's a bill in motion right now that would forbid the making of deals with gang members to get them to flip on their fellows. Sanchez, how much trouble would that cause, eh? Another would make attendance of magical elementary schools mandatory for all children. Homeschooling and Muggle schools wouldn't be an option anymore. There's a bill close to being passed that would open thousands of documents, kept secret for the protection of witnesses, to the public. None of these should have made it past the first few stages of the legal system. Do I need to go on, or do you understand the significance of what I'm telling you?"

Silence settled before the doorbell rang and Moody left to go answer it.

"I don't think we can ignore this," said Hobbs. "If there really _is_ something going on this big, it could crumble our entire legal system and set our world hundreds of years back."

"Moody's paranoid," said Flynn. "We all know he sees threats everywhere."

"But that doesn't necessarily make him wrong," Sanchez argued. "His paranoia's done him a lot of good over time."

"The least we can do is double check Moody's findings," said Tao reasonably. "Depending on what that turns up, we keep going with it or we abandon it."

"Much as I hate to say it," said Provenza lowly to Raydor as their teammates continued debating, "Hobbs is right. If there is a blackmail network in place, it has to be brought down."

"I know," Raydor admitted. "I'd be lying if I said I'm not terrified, though." She showed Provenza her eyes, which were alight with deep concern. "If we go through with this, we're going to make a lot of very powerful people very angry. I came here to provide a safer, better life for my children and I just can't – I can't – "

"Look, Sharon," said Provenza as Raydor trailed off, "we're going to do everything we can to keep this quiet and protect each other. We haven't failed in that yet."

"It's the 'yet' that makes me nervous," said Raydor.

Before Provenza could reply, Moody reentered the kitchen with two seniors, one of which was very familiar.

"You can't be serious!" Provenza burst. " _Sykes_ is one of the seniors you're giving us?"

"Nice to see you too, Mr. Provenza," said Sykes smartly.

"The lot of you know Sykes," said Moody. "This is Chuck Cooper. He'll be your other source. They know the stakes, they know who to report to, and, most importantly, they're experts in stealth."

"You kidding me?" asked Flynn with a cheeky smile. "Goody-two-shoes, suck-up Amy Sykes is an expert in stealth?"

"You two are almost out of dog food," said Sykes, quirking an eyebrow. "I took the liberty of feeding Dodger this morning when Cooper noticed you hadn't come back last night."

"Stopped at a pet store on the way over," said Cooper. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny pouch. With the wave of his wand the small object swelled into a thirty-pound bag of dog food. "This is the stuff you usually get for Dodger, isn't it?"

"Not a word to anyone outside this room," said Moody as Flynn and Provenza's jaws dropped and several others stifled laughter. "And I was never here." He left without saying anything more.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And so the real plot begins! Tricked ya before, didn't I? Maybe? I dunno.

Share your thoughts with me; leave a review.


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